Under the Crimson Moon
by Hyperguy
Summary: Under the crimson moon the world is bathed in a burning sea of red. On this night my seal will be broken, and when it does Arceus will rue the day he imprisoned me inside these walls of ink and parchment. My harbinger is coming... are you prepared?
1. A New Life

**XxXxX**

"Do you remember who you are?" A voice echoed though my head as I floated in an endless sea of darkness. Where was I? How did I get here?

"Yes… I do…" I was an Uchiha, a Leaf ninja. A traitor to my home, and a spy for their enemies. I died in hopes of giving my brother what he wanted. Believing that it would solve all of his problems if he had killed me.

Apparently I was wrong.

"Hmm… Can you tell me your name?" The deep voice asked.

"I-Itachi Uchiha." That was my name. The one that my mother and father gave me at birth, and the one that everyone hated at my death. I died believing that I could stop the progress of darkness alone, but I was completely wrong in my belief.

I left everything to the very thing that I was ordered to capture. 'I can only hope that he can succeed where I've failed…'

"Good…" The voice said in a satisfied tone. "You've done well in your previous life, but your work is not yet complete."

"Did something happen to Naruto or Sasuke?"

"Not exactly. Your presence is needed elsewhere."

Elsewhere? What was this voice talking about? "Who are you?"

"I suppose you could call me a Shinigami if you wish, but my name is unimportant. If you choose to accept this duty then I may alleviate some of your brother's sins…" The voice said replied.

"…" How could I refuse? I had failed my brother in my previous life, the least I can do is alleviate some of his pain in the next. "Fine, I'll do it if you promise to help my brother."

"Exactly what I wished to hear." The voice replied in what seemed like delight. My chest began to tighten as if a strong hand had grappled itself around my heart. "Your purpose will become clear when the time arises. Until then explore and learn about the new world. Gain as much information as you can and become stronger. I'll let you keep something that may prove useful and place you in the best host I can find. You're going to need it."

The tightness around my chest was slowly increasing until it felt like my entire body was being sucked through a straw. And then the world of darkness disappeared from around me.

 **XxXxX**

Pain. That was all Itachi could feel as he began regaining his consciousness after his little incursion with the Shinigami. His body was laying on what felt like wet metal grating and broken glass as he took his first breath in this new world, but this was immediately hampered. Trying to move, the Uchiha felt every muscle in his body fight back at even the slightest notion of moving his body, but he pushed past it as he's done so many times before. Blindly grabbing at what was making it impossible to breath, Itachi pulled at the tube that was shoved down the length of his throat and threw it to the ground.

Opening his eyes once he was fully standing, Itachi caught a glimpse of his arms. Outstretching said arms in front of him, he took note that they were long, black, and the hands looked like something a frog would have except larger. 'What in the world…?' The sound of a loud pop of electricity made the confused Uchiha turn his attention from the strange changes of his own body and towards his current surroundings. Dimly lit by the few lights that remained and extremely damp, the room looked like it had been struck by a hurricane. Pools of liquid sat scattered across the ground and dangling wires hung from the ceiling of the room. The walls where made of a thick metal with a massive metal door at the opposite end of the room from Itachi. Two massive test tubes, large enough to hold a human or animal, lined the walls to his left and right, but something then caught his eye. A creature, large with black and red fur, lay hanging out of the test tube to his right. Broken glass lay scattered across the ground where it had attempted to break out of the test tube, but the glass beneath it was stained red.

Another pop, and a subsequent drop of liquid landing onto his head, made Itachi take a step towards the creature, but as he limped to the edge of his own test tube, his body began vigorously protesting. Stamping out the pain that radiated up and down his body, the Uchiha jumped down onto the cold cement that was void of any broken glass. He was slowly making progress, but Itachi stopped in front of the test tube and looked at the lifeless creature before him. What was it? How did they get here? And what exactly happened to this place? To them? All of these thoughts ran through Itachi's mind as he moved to get a better angle of what had happened to the creature. Spotting what he was looking for, three massive pieces of glass was imbedded into the creature's stomach and chest. 'Poor thing…'

Backing away from the test tube, the Uchiha looked to the other side of his own test tube, only to find the third test tube void of any life, dead or alive. The glass was broken just like the other two, but nothing remained inside. Meaning if there was once something in there then it had already woken up and left.

A third pop of electricity suddenly made a computer screen come to life. Looking over at the screen, Itachi dragged his body through the cold pools of water and debris before finally stopping in front of the computer that was completely caked in dust. The screen remained full of static at first, but slowly the picture of an old man appeared on screen.

"This is our final test… the others did not ma… high hopes that this will… test subjects not enduring as much as we… edge of a pokemon revolution! This can very well change the course of history!" The screen then faded into static once more before cutting out altogether.

'Is that what these creatures are? Pokemon?' Itachi looked down at his hand and sighed. 'What we are?' A low grumble suddenly smashed Itachi in the stomach, making him fall to his knees. Hunger and lack of clean water was becoming an issue and if he doesn't find any soon then he'll likely return to the place from which he came. Standing back up, Itachi began limping towards the door. Getting out of this place was his first priority.

Using as much energy as he could spare, Itachi pushed against the door that was nearly two times his height. The thick metal door slowly gave way until Itachi stumbled out of the room and into a dark hallway. Not knowing which direction was the correct choice, Itachi chose a random direction and began walking. Dimly lit like the room he was just in, seeing was proving difficult, but he was easily able to because of the time he had spent in the various Akatsuki bases. 'This place kind of reminds me of one of the Akatsuki hideouts. I wonder how Kisame is doing…' Shrugging off these thoughts, Itachi ducked under a loose cord that hung from the ceiling. Passing various doors, they all looked to hold something different than the rest. One looked to be a high-tech training room that had fallen into disarray due to lack of care, while another had massive data towers lining the walls of the room. Of course these data towers where turned off, and the broken pipes that leaked water onto them from above only added assurance that they would never turn on again.

Continuing his seemingly endless march down the dark corridor, a massive hole in the ground appeared before him. Peering over the edge, the endless darkness only pushed him further into avoiding the depths of the hole. What could have made this? Itachi wasn't sure, but this world was new to him so anything was possible…

Another pang of hunger struck Itachi, making him wobble and lean against the wall. Looking around, another broken pipe hung nearby, dripping a liquid that Itachi could only hope was water. He was quick to limp over to the pipe and open his mouth to allow the water to drop into his mouth. It wasn't much, but at least he could ward off dehydration for a while longer.

'That should be enough. Now this hole.' Itachi limped over to the edge of the crater that obstructed his path. The jump wasn't that far, and if he was in a healthier condition then Itachi was sure he could make the jump, but now? The water helped a bit in adding a bit of much needed adrenalin to his system, and with a few test hops, he found that his body was extremely agile. Not having access to chakra was annoying, but the lightness of his body, coupled with how his legs resembled that of a frog, pushed Itachi's confidence even further.

'Better now than never. Turning around would take too long, and in my condition I may pass out from hunger. I need to take my chances.' Taking a couple steps back, Itachi quickly dashed towards the ledge, but his body was screaming at him to lay down and fall asleep. The exhaustion was enthralling, but the Uchiha knew that if he were to sleep now then it was very likely that he wasn't waking back up.

Itachi kicked off the edge of the hole, and was surprised when he went much further than expected. Easily clearing the hole in the ground, Itachi rolled and slid to a stop on the other side of the crater. 'What was that? From my calculations I was only just going to make it?' It didn't matter. More crucial and base needs needed to be fulfilled before he could contemplate the extent of this body.

The long hallway continued on, but a massive metal door, much like the one that sealed Itachi inside the lab, sat at the top of a long set of stairs. Hope began to build in his chest at the prospect of finally leaving the darkness of this place. It took the limping Uchiha a while to make it to the top of the stairs, but once he did Itachi found the door cracked open. Placing both hands onto the door he pulled with all his might. Stubbornly complying, the door creaked open, and light poured in to replace the darkness of the cavern.

Blinding the Uchiha, he raised an arm to cover his eyes from the intense light. Itachi's eyes slowly adjusted to the light and as they did the sound of nature met his ears. The chirping of birds, the soft summer breeze, and the rustling of trees brought the Uchiha back to a simpler time. Lowering his arm, Itachi saw the vastness of the forest before him. 'Reminds me of home…' Another pain rippled through the core of his body, forcing him to abandon any thoughts of the last world. Itachi had more pressing issues that needed to be taken care of.

So, he began limping through the forest, looking for any source of food that may present itself. Itachi was doubtful of this, but maybe if he was lucky… "Hey! Are you okay mister?"

The limping Uchiha stopped and looked over his shoulder towards the source of the voice. It was strange, the words came to his ears in a flurry of 'pidgey's' and various abbreviations of the word, but he could translate this new form of speech perfectly.

A bird, obviously young from the way he talked, hopped out of a bush. How could he understand a bird like this? Pushing these questions to the back of his mind, Itachi began to think of a good answer in which to give the tiny bird when a larger bird, vaguely similar to the smaller one, flew down next to him.

"There you are! I've been looking all over for you!" The larger bird said in a flurry of 'Pidgeotto's'.

"I'm sorry mom, but this pokemon looked like he's been hurt. I was worried…" The Pidgey said.

' _This_ pokemon…?' Itachi thought as he continued to listen. Was he a pokemon now? It would confirm his earlier thoughts after listening to the computer and looking over his body, but it was still are hard for the Uchiha to believe. The larger bird looked over at Itachi and her eyes narrowed.

"Don't ever associate with pokemon like this one, son. He looks dangerous and could attack at any time." The Pidgetto said with a sneer, clearly not saying everything that was on her mind.

"But-!" The Pidgey began to say, but was cut off by his mother.

"Leave him be. I'm sure you were just annoying him anyways. Lets go home." The Pidgetto stated sternly before turning and taking off into the skies. The Pidgey stared at the wounded pokemon before sighing and looking up into the air.

"Sorry about my mother. She's just protective is all." The Pidgey said. "You look like you're in pain, even though you're doing a great job of masking it. Head west, there will be a professor that may be able to help you. I don't know what's wrong with you, but that's the closest place you can go. Good luck mister." With that the tiny bird took off into the skies after his mother. Itachi watched as the Pidgey disappeared past the tree line with a tiny smile on his face.

'The innocence of a child has helped me once again. Thank you.'

 **XxXxX**

"Okay Professor Oak, your monthly check up is all done!" Nurse Joy said as she walked into the lab, wiping the sweat from her brow that she had accumulated from working outside in the blazing hot sun.

"Thank you Nurse Joy. It's astounding how you can complete this is just a few hours!" Oak replied as he turned to the pink haired nurse.

"You can thank Delia and Tracey for that. They help me every time I come down here, and it's always a big help." Nurse Joy commented as she took a bottle of water, which was handed to her by Professor Oak. Every month the Pokemon League requires a medical professional, in this case Nurse Joy, to come by a Professors lab in order to check up on the condition of the pokemon residing there.

"So, how are the pokemon doing?"

"They are doing fine. Every single one of them are in tip top shape, as always."

"I take it Tracey and Delia are still outside?"

"Yeah, Tracey is drawing Delia as she plays with Bayleaf." Nurse Joy said as she chuckled. Oak mirrored her laugh as he walked over to his desk.

"Always the bright one." Oak sat down at his desk and clicked on his computer. "Thanks for coming down here from Viridian City. I know it's never easy to drag all this medical equipment down here."

"Oh, it's nothing, really! You make it sound much worse than it is." Nurse Joy replied with a sheepish smile. Just as Oak was about to respond Tracey burst through the door of the lab. "Tracey? What's wrong?"

"We've got a problem."

 **XxXxX**

Delia had seen many pokemon before. It comes hand in hand with having a pokemon trainer as a son, but when a pokemon she has never seen before limps out of the woods and collapses before her, she tends to panic. She was immediately by its side, looking over its body for any signs of injuries or illness. When she couldn't find any, this was when she truly began to panic. Several of her son's pokemon, this being Bayleaf, Blazeiken, and Bulbasaur, where by her side as well, trying to help in any way that they could. Bayleaf was even using the leaf atop her head as a fan to hopefully cool off the unknown wild pokemon.

"You're going to be okay, just hang on." Delia said softly, but if one listened closely they could hear the panic hidden underneath. 'Where is Nurse-?!'

"I'm here! What's the problem?" Nurse Joy asked when she, Tracey, and Professor Oak came running to the scene.

"This pokemon limped out of the forest and collapsed! I checked for injuries, but couldn't find any!"

"Let me take a look." Nurse Joy said as she kneeled down and looked over the pokemon. Said black pokemon suddenly twitched in pain, grabbing at his stomach in obvious discomfort. Nurse Joy placed her ear against his stomach, and heard a quiet grumble emitting from his abdomen. "Tracey, get me some food and water! Delia, grab me a hyper potion! Now!"

Without another word Tracey and Delia dashed into the lab to grab the things asked of them. "What are you doing here?" Oak commented.

"Huh?" Nurse Joy asked in question.

"What's a Greninja doing this far away from Kalos?" Oak questioned as he looked over the pokemon. "And why is it that strange color? Greninja are supposed to be blue and white, not black and red." Just as Oak said this Tracey and Delia returned with the items requested. The Greninja was indeed strange, black replaced the blue while crimson red replaced all the areas that were once white or cream. Another thing that confused him further was the absence of a scarf like tongue. Instead there was only a flowing dark gray scarf made out of material that went unknown to Oak in its stead. Its height was that of a fourteen year old human, but its muscles were slightly more defined than that of a normal Greninja. While Oak has seen a 'shiny', as they are often coined, Greninja once before the older professor has never seen a Greninja that looked this unique.

"Your questions can be answered later. First he needs to be treated." Nurse Joy said as she took some of the pokemon food, and began feeding it to the starving pokemon. She slowly fed the pokemon and poured water down his throat every now and again. The black Greninja ate and drank everything that came near his lips, eager to fight off the hunger that had nearly done him in. "Delia, can you spray the potion on his left rib cage? That should heal the bruises around that area."

The brown haired women did as she was told and sprayed the healing potion onto the pokemon as was specified. Sighing, the Greninja became less tense and continued eating at a leisurely pace with its eyes closed. The pokemon that surrounded them also seemed to become more relaxed as his condition began to improve. This continued on for the next few minutes until his eyes slowly opened.

"So you're awake. That's good to see." Nurse Joy said with a smile as the black pokemon's onyx eyes settled onto the pink haired nurse. A few seconds passed as he simply stared at her, but then his eyes widened and jumped to his feet. The Greninja seemed to be very athletic as he did a back flip and landed himself in a defensive posture opposite of the group of pokemon and humans alike, a water kunai forming in his hands. The three pokemon that had once gathered around him now stood in a defensive posture as well.

"Woah there Greninja, we don't want to fight." Oak said as he looked at the water blade in the pokemon's hand in curiosity.

"It's true! They helped you when you collapsed!" Bayleaf said, trying to calm down the black pokemon, but during all this he never looked angry, or shocked, just stoic. Like he was analyzing the situation and trying his best to come to a valid conclusion. His eyes glanced from person to pokemon, trying to decipher what was going on.

"Why?" The Greninja asked, his question pointed at the leaf pokemon that had talked.

"Why…? Because it's the right thing to do!" The other pokemon seemed to agree with what the Bayleaf had said, but to Itachi there's always a price.

"…" It was clear to everyone that was gathered that Itachi wasn't believing what Bayleaf said. Even the humans were beginning to understand the situation. That this strange looking Greninja before them was skeptic about everything that was going on.

"You're still not fully healed. Please, let me help." Nurse Joy said, taking a step forward, but the pokemon took a step back in hesitation. How could Itachi trust these people? He's only just met them, but the other pokemon seemed to trust them. The Uchiha knew that these people, and pokemon alike, don't know that he's not from this world. Or, at least his mind…

"Let's ease the tension then. My name is Dalia Ketchum and this is Professor Oak, Nurse Joy, and Tracey." Dalia said as she pointed to each of the people before him. Itachi's eyes settled onto the man that was called 'Professor Oak'.

 _Head west, there will be a professor that may be able to help you. I don't know what's wrong with you, but that's the closest place you can go. Good luck mister._

"You're Professor Oak?" Itachi asked as he looked to the aging man, but it was Bayleaf that responded.

"He is! Have you heard of him?" Bayleaf asked, trying to win the wild pokemon over.

"Bayleaf! He's a wild pokemon. How could he have heard of Professor Oak?" Blazeiken asked.

"Because Professor Oak is known around here by the local pokemon as being one of the kindest people ever!"

"But he's not 'local'."

"That doesn't mean he cannot have heard of him!" Bayleaf argued, trying her best to give Itachi the benefit of the doubt.

"I have heard of him." Itachi interrupted, making the two arguing pokemon turn to him. "From a Pidgey… I think that's what he was called." The Uchiha very quickly learned that the names of pokemon derive from how they talk. It was weird, how did he know the names of these pokemon? Was it his new pokemon instincts? Or was it hardwired into his brain by the ones that made him?

"You think?" Bulbasaur asked. Who doesn't know what a Pidgey is?

"I can't remember anything before today. Everything is a blur to me." Itachi lied.

"You have memory loss?" Blazeiken asked. After Itachi nodded his head, confirming his words, the fire pokemon nodded and lowed his defensive posture. Something that Bayleaf had forgone long before. 'So he's just afraid is all. I certainly can't blame him because I would have done the same thing as he did.'

"Blazeiken!" Bulbasaur exclaimed.

"Give the Greninja a chance Bulbasaur! He's obviously just confused and scared!" Bayleaf responded.

"But he's wild! How do we know if he's not trying to trick us?" Bulbasaur questioned. There was definitely _something_ wrong about the pokemon in front of them, but Bulbasaur couldn't figure it out. Every instinct in his body told him that he wasn't _natural,_ and Bulbasaur was sure the others felt it as well. Bayleaf growled at how defiant Bulbasaur was being and paced over to Itachi. "Bayleaf! What are you doing?!" The female grass pokemon ignored her friend and stopped directly in front of the stoic Uchiha.

"You wouldn't hurt me, would you?" Bayleaf whispered, earning a raised eyebrow from the black Greninja. She was certainly quick to trust… but he didn't come here to make enemies. Itachi would accept their hospitality… for now.

"No. I have no reason to." Itachi responded in an equally hushed tone. Nodding her head, she then lowered her neck so that it was completely exposed to the Greninja before her.

"Bayleaf, what are you doing?!" Bulbasaur exclaimed. Ready to dash to her defense if given a reason to.

"I'm placing my trust in him. He won't hurt me and this just proves it." Bayleaf responded with a smile. Itachi lowered his own defensive posture and looked down at the exposed neck extended before him, then back up at the group to see them all on edge. Sighing, the Uchiha placed one of his hands onto her long neck and lifted it up. The water kunai dissipating from his hand in a splash of water.

"I think that's enough. I'll go with the nurse." Itachi said. Bayleaf squealed with glee as she danced around the black pokemon, making Professor Oak, Nurse Joy, Dalia, and Tracey laugh at the gesture.

"Looks like she managed to convince him." Oak said. Bulbasaur grumbled lowly, while Blazeiken patted him on the back.

"Relax. He's only getting checked out by Nurse Joy." Blazeiken said.

"I still don't trust him." Blubasaur remarked as he watched the black Greninja walk into the lab with Nurse Joy. Bayleaf walked over to the group with a bright smile on her face. "Do you really trust him that much? We've only just met him."

"I know!" Bayleaf replied cheerfully, gaining sweat drops from Bulbasaur and Blazeiken. "But there's something about him that seems… off." Bayleaf looked towards the lab where the Greninja had just disappeared into.

"So you trust him because he seems 'off'?" Bulbasaur pushed.

"Stop bothering her Bulbasaur. I'm sure Bayleaf has her reasons for trusting him. Lets just leave things be and see how they pan out." Blazeiken said before walking away.

"If you say so." Bulbasaur said, following after the fire bird. "Coming?"

Snapping from her daze, Bayleaf nodded her head. "Sorry! Wait for me!"

 **XxXxX**

Itachi now sat on the top of a cot that had been cleared of boxes and papers by a rather embarrassed Professor Oak. The pink haired nurse went about setting up a machine about the size of five gallon pail on the table next to the cot as the Uchiha munched on the food given to him. It had a small computer screen and a keyboard to match said screen. For what this thing was used for, Itachi had no idea, but he was sure it would help him so he would accept it.

It was during this time, while Nurse Joy was setting up the machine and the others sat outside the spare room given to them by the professor, that the Greninja found a moment to collect himself and think over everything that has happened. He was placed inside a pokemon's body, that much was certain, but the secrets of this body seemed to elude him. Before sitting down onto the cot, Itachi had found a mirror in which he could properly examine his body, and the sight shocked him.

Folding his legs, Itachi began to meditate. Seeing this, Nurse Joy blinked at the actions of the wild pokemon, but shrugged it off as something Greninja normally do and continued with her work.

'What secrets do you hide from me…?' Itachi thought as he delved into the depths of his mind. Bringing forth all of the memories he had experienced since coming here, but this alone would not suffice in learning what he could now do, and what he could not. Honing his chakra to form jutsu was clearly something he could not do, but the way he manipulated water with ease was something similar to that of manipulating chakra. Itachi cracked open one of his eyes and looked down at his hand. Imagining a shuriken, an exact replica appeared in his hand made out of water. 'So I can form water based weapons based on thought and will alone? I wonder how large the weapon can be?' Letting the shuriken dissolve, Itachi then thought of a sword but nothing came to be. 'Nothing too big it seems.'

"Ready?" Nurse Joy asked. Nodding his head, the pink nurse went to work connecting various wires about his body, explaining what each did as she went along. After the final wire was connected, Nurse Joy flipped a switch on the machine and pumped a fist when it turned on. "Yes! It works!" Itachi grinned beneath the veil of his scarf at the scene.

The machine began to glow and for the next few minutes the pink haired nurse watched the screen vividly until it turned itself off, seemingly completing its task. Her eyes were wide from shock as she stared at the empty screen before her. "W-What…?" Nurse Joy looked over at the confused Uchiha before a few tears escaped her eyes. She stared at the pokemon for a few seconds before wrapping her arms around the still exhausted pokemon. "You poor thing."

A knock at the door broke her from the hug. "Everything okay in there?" Professor Oak asked.

"Professor you may want to come in here." Nurse Joy said as she wiped away the tears from her eyes. After entering the room, Oak quickly realized that Nurse Joy had been crying.

"What's wrong?" Professor Oak asked. "What's going on?"

"This Greninja… I don't know how to explain it, but he has had massive internal organ damage." Nurse Joy said as she looked at Itachi, worry evident in her eyes. "But the scars that were left behind are different from what I would have expected to see from a wild pokemon."

"Different? What do you mean different?"

"His organs were damaged not by taking a severe beating, but by the blade of a… scalpel." Nurse Joy said softly.

"Meaning that…" Oak began to say, but pattered out as the thought came to mind. Nurse Joy remained quiet as she looked down to the floor.

'So I had internal damage due to experimentation. Judging on where, and how, I woke up this was an easy conclusion.' Itachi thought as his stoic visage stared back at the two humans in the room.

"He also seems to have a severe case of memory loss. How much he remembers, and where his memory starts, is unknown to me." Nurse Joy continued to say.

"Greninja, do you know where you are? What region you're in, or how you got here?" Professor Oak asked. Itachi shook his head in the negative. "I thought so…"

"What do we do? We can't just let him leave without him knowing where he's going." Nurse Joy said.

"You wouldn't mind if I ran some of my own tests. Would you?" Oak asked Itachi, who raised an eyebrow at the question. If what Nurse Joy said was true, why would he agree to be tested on again? Sensing his apprehensiveness to the prospect, Oak raised his hands defensively. "Not experiments, just some tests like Nurse Joy did. Nothing invasive, I promise."

"Why?" Itachi asked in pokespeech. While not able to understand him, Oak got the gist of what Itachi asked.

"You've been experimented on, a test subject if you will, and any number of things could have happened to you. Knowing what changes happened to your body are essential moving forward." Oak said as he opened the door to the room. "Also, relearning what you are and what you're capable of may be the difference between victory or defeat if you ever run into trouble."

'I suppose he's right. Learning about this world, and this body of mine, is one of my primary objectives.' Itachi thought as he jumped down from the cot.

"Are you sure you're all right?" Nurse Joy asked. The black Greninja nodded and exited the room after Oak. The other two people that were originally there, Dalia and Tracey if Itachi remembered correctly, had disappeared back out into the field beyond the lab with the other pokemon.

"This way." Professor Oak said as they entered the main portion of the lab. Computer and data towers lined the walls with a giant desk at the center. Papers stacked as high as the professor himself made the desk unusable to anyone who wished to use it for conventional means. The professor picked up a red hand held machine and pointed it towards Itachi. A few seconds later a voice sprang up from the red machine. "Greninja, a water pokemon most commonly found in the Kalos region-." The professor closed the PokeDex and sighed. "I figured as much. The PokeDex won't pick up any anomalies, which means we've got to move to the big guns. Please step in here."

The machine the professor was ushering towards was a massive device with a glass sliding door. The small chamber within had several lights and other things that was unknown to Itachi, but the small computer that sat next to it was vaguely similar to the one he found in the room he had originally woke up in.

"This machine is of my own invention. Its purpose is to intensely scan your body and pick up what your strengths and weaknesses are. While still in its early stages of fine tuning, hopefully this will be able to pick up any abnormalities within your body. If there are any at all. There are sometimes skin color changes that appear in pokemon from time to time, but it's extremely rare and if what Nurse Joy says is true then this didn't happen naturally." Professor Oak said as he walked over to the computer. "Now, if we type in 'Greninja' into the computer." An image of Itachi, only blue and white with a long tongue wrapping around its neck like a scarf, appeared onto the screen. "There we go, would you please enter. This won't hurt a bit, I promise you."

'Best be right. I don't know how much more my body can take now.' Itachi thought as he entered the chamber. The glass door slid closed behind him as he looked around the small tube like room. A soft hum began to emit from the machinery, until there was a flash of light that exploded from the panels that lined the walls. Dazed, the Uchiha heard the glass doors slide open and a hand clasp onto his shoulder.

"Sorry about that. I should have warned you about the light." Oak said as Itachi began to right himself. Once the Greninja had composed himself, Oak walked back over to the computer and, after tapping a few keys, the screen popped up onto a larger television overhead. An image of Itachi appeared onto the screen and the various details of what he was and what he could do appeared onto the screen along with it. What type he was, what he was weak to, and the various little things such as weight and height as well. The two images of himself and the blue Greninja sat alongside each other on the same screen as the data for Itachi began to load. "So I took the liberty of placing both a normal Greninja and yourself next to each other for comparison purposes. While all Greninja are slightly different, any major changes will be easily picked up this way."

"Looks like your height is about average, but you weigh more due to an increase in muscle mass. Not much more, mind you, but it's a noticeable difference because it allows you to use more powerful water based attacks. Your tongue doesn't seem to wrap around your neck like most Greninja, instead you have that dark gray scarf as a suitable replacement. I wonder why your tongue is such a shorter length…?" Professor Oak explained as he went down the list of abnormalities, but he stopped when he reached a darker box. "What's this? It seems your dark type has been amplified… by a lot!" Looking over the data again, Oaks eyes widened in shock. "Is this what they did to you?" Itachi watched the older scientist carefully. Oak had already gone over what a typical Greninja could do, with Itachi memorizing each and every attack he can use, but from the sounds of things he was anything but typical.

Collecting himself, the elder man looked over to Itachi for a moment before sighing and shaking his head. "Tell me, do you know what a Zoroark is?" Shaking his head in the negative, Oak pressed a few keys on the computer and an image of a black and red fox appeared onto the screen. It looks exactly like the creature that was dead in the base he awoken in earlier that day. "A Zoroark is a dark type pokemon that uses illusions and other dark type moves to trick their opponents to victory. They even have the ability to change what they look like by using their advanced illusions." Oak explained as Itachi went over the list of potential moves and picked up some other information as well.

'Telepathy via illusions… could prove useful.' Itachi thought as he read the description on how to use said ability, along with many other dark type moves. 'Seems simple enough. Is this what the Shinigami was talking about when he was searching for a suitable host?'

"The reason why I'm telling you this is because someone has managed to integrate the powers of Zoroark into your body. Giving you all of the abilities listed, but that's not all." Oak said as he scrolled down further, but a list of question marks appeared on screen. "There also seems to be a large amount of another pokemon lingering inside your body. What it is I've got no idea, but it's there and I want you to be aware." Oak turned to the stoic Greninja and looked into his abnormal onyx eyes.

" _Why are you helping me?_ " Itachi asked telepathically. 'That easy, huh?'

"Telepathy? I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. As for your question…" Oak said as he leaned against the machine Itachi had been in. "Because it's the right thing to do. Nurse Joy, Tracey, myself, even Dalia think that helping others and protecting those that cannot do so themselves comes first above all else. Even a wild pokemon such as yourself."

'They sound vaguely like Naruto…' Itachi thought as he looked to the window. 'Even here I cannot escape his presence.'

"So what will you do now?" Oak asked, a serious expression that's so unlike the normal persona adorning his features. "You have no idea where you are, or where you came from."

" _I'll find my way. Just like any… pokemon._ "It was strange saying those words, but that's what Itachi was now, a pokemon. At least he had the benefit of telepathy unlike other pokemon.

"I can't really stop you, since you're a wild pokemon and all, but be careful. Trainers will try and capture you because of the differences you exhibit." Oak said.

" _I understand, but that won't happen._ " Itachi replied as he walked towards the door. Just as he reached towards the handle, Nurse Joy walked into the room from another door on the opposite side of the room.

"Leaving so soon?" Nurse Joy asked as she fully entered the lab.

" _I am_." Itachi responded, making Nurse Joy's eyes widen.

"Telepathy?!" Nurse Joy exclaimed, turning to Oak, who shrugged his shoulders.

"Just go with it." The older professor said as he closed all the information down before the pink haired nurse had the chance to steal a glance.

'Looks like he's going to keep this all a secret… for now.' Itachi thought.

Sighing, Nurse Joy turned to the Uchiha with a motherly look on her face. "Where ever you go, or whatever you do, just know that you can come to the Viridian City Pokemon Center if you're in need of help."

'Pokemon Center? Must be a medical center for pokemon.' Itachi thought.

" _I will remember that, and_ _thank you for all of your help. I hope to meet you all again one day_." Itachi said as he opened the door, allowing the light to flood into the room. He needed to travel this world and search for his purpose within it, and thanks to these kind hearted people, Itachi was given that chance.

He could only hope that his purpose within this world was a blessing and not a curse…

 **XxXxX**

 **AN:** Well… here I am. It has certainly been a while since I've posted anything, but I'm here. To anyone that was curious this was the story that I've been working on, and the main reason why I haven't posted another chapter of Lost One. It's not completed yet, and I don't plan on posting another chapter until it is (unless I feel the need to update you all on its progress or something big happens in my life).

If anything this is just an update on what I've been working on. I hope you all like it, but if I may be honest with everyone the main reason I'm writing this is because I was asked to. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't be writing this if I didn't enjoy it (hence the reason why I'm writing it in the first place), but I hope everyone enjoys the first chapter. It gives a sort of baseline of what the story is going to be about. I know I'm known for writing about Naruto, but I've always loved Itachi.

I love every one of you, and I truly hope you give this story a chance.


	2. Subtle Beginnings

**XxXxX**

'This body is light.' Itachi thought as he jumped from tree to tree before finally landing onto the grass below. 'It reminds me of my body back home… but I suppose that Shinigami did say something about helping me adjust to this new world. This must be the closest thing to a shinobi in this world.'

Looking down at his hand, he formed a water kunai. 'It feels just like the ones I used to use. Only…' He then threw it through the forest. Making it smash into a tree nearby. On the other side of the tree two kids were seen peering out from behind said tree.

"I-It saw us?!" The boy shouted in surprise. The girl that stood next to him scoffed at the straight forward question.

"Well of course it did Adam! Why else would it throw a water attack at us?"

"Shut up Clare! It looks really strong. I wonder what type of pokemon it is?" Adam asked as the two kids fully walked out from behind the tree. The girl had green hair and orange eyes with a pink dress. Adam had brown hair and eyes with blue jeans and a green short sleeve shirt.

"Why not use the pokedex then? That's why it was given to us." Clare responded.

"Good idea! Here let me… there we go!" Adam exclaimed as he removed a red device from his backpack. The 'pokedex' as it was called began describing the type of pokemon Itachi was. Everything from type, to common locations where his breed was found was given to the trainer. "A Greninja? He doesn't look like your average Greninja to me. Must be pretty rare then!"

"I wouldn't mess with it Adam." Clare said, looking me up and down.

"And why not?"

"The pokedex said that he is a final evolution."

"So?" This earned a whack across the head from the girl. "Hey! Why did you do that?"

"It means that it's strong you big dummy!"

"Well I've got to try! Lets go Pidgey!" Adam exclaimed as he threw a pokeball out in front of him. A bird like the one that had helped Itachi before burst out of the ball between the Greninja and the kids. Itachi furrowed a brow at how a pokemon was able to fit inside one of those balls, but shrugged the thought off. If getting captured meant losing his freedom then he would have none of that. In a way, Itachi knew on instinct what it meant to be captured. It was as if the primal base needs of how to live in the wild as a pokemon, surrounded by other creatures like him, was slowly beginning to leak into his mind. "Alright Pidgey! You ready?!"

The Pidgey looked at the black Greninja and clearly a sense of dread was etched across her features. It was clear that it didn't want to fight, but the trainer's blind optimism was making it. "I guess…" The Pidgey replied nervously.

"Good! Lets start this off with Gust!" Adam exclaimed. The Pidgey flew up into the air and began flapping its wings as hard as she could, but the wind only made Itachi squint his eyes a bit and make his scarf flow in the breeze. The stoic Greninja stood still with his arms crossed, clearly not impressed at what he saw.

"Is that all?" Itachi asked the Pidgey, making the birds eyes widen at the comment. Taking her shocked visage as a yes, the Uchiha dashed towards the hovering bird at a fast pace while throwing water shuriken.

"Dodge!" Adam shouted, but the Pidgey didn't need to be told that. She was dodging as best she could, but little did she know that while dodging, the Pidgey was slowly lowering herself towards the ground. Once said Pidgey was low enough to the ground, Itachi sprang up until he was level with the bird. The two looked at one another for a few seconds, the female bird quickly realizing her position, but it was far too late. Itachi brought the heel of his foot down onto her head, making her slam into the ground with a loud thud. The black Greninja landed a few seconds after in a delicate fashion and looked over at his opponent. She looked to be nearly passed out from the looks of things.

"Pidgey!" Adam shouted in dismay.

"Told you not to mess with it." Clare stated.

"I at least had to-!" Adam began to say, but stopped midsentence when they saw the wild pokemon approach the Pidgey. "What are you doing?!"

Itachi clasped his hand around the neck of the bird and lifted it up in front of him. She was barely conscious, but could see what was happening. "I'm sorry your master brought this upon you." Itachi said softly as a water kunai formed in his free hand. "But I'm afraid you lost."

"P-Please don't kill me! I was just doing what he told me to do!" The bird exclaimed, fear clearly flowing through her frail body. "I admit defeat! Just don't hurt me!" The Pidgey had never been more afraid for her life than she did at this very moment. Before Itachi could respond the bird began glowing red and disappearing from his grasp. Raising an eyebrow in confusion, the Uchiha's grasp turned to air within seconds.

"Steelix, use Rock Throw!" A voice shouted. Itachi felt something flying towards him and jumped backwards on instinct. As if on que a massive rock smashed into the ground where he once stood seconds before. Looking over at the new voice, the Uchiha saw a tanned man with brown hair and a massive steel worm like pokemon move in between him and the children as said tanned man made his way over to the two kids. "Are you two alright?"

"Y-Yeah… Thanks Brock." Adam said in surprise. "That pokemon almost…"

"I know. What are you doing challenging a wild pokemon that is so much stronger than you! You should be ashamed of yourself!" Brock exclaimed.

"I-I-I'm sorry! It's just that I thought we could-." Adam began to say, tears on the verge of coming out.

"I told you that you couldn't handle it. Lets go to the nearest pokemon center. Your Pidgey needs some rest." Clare said, placing a hand onto his shoulder.

"Yeah. Sorry mister." Adam said with a bow before the two kids left. Brock sighed and shook his head.

"Kids these days. Always thinking they can take on the world." The tan man said before looking over towards Itachi, who had remained still during the conversation. "Now there's you. Don't you think you were going a little too far?" Itachi didn't move as he listened to what the man had to say. "I mean, you scared them a good bit, that's for certain, but that Pidgey looked awfully scared for its life."

"You weren't going to actually kill her, were you?" Steelix asked, questioning Itachi's motives. The Uchiha was confused himself about the notion of killing another pokemon in battle. These people were treating a battle as if it was a sport of some kind. Was it a sort of sport here in this world? Was Itachi treating his little battle with the small bird like he would back in his world?

"Probably not." Itachi responded.

"'Probably' not?" Steelix asked, more concerned with his answer.

"Only if it made me."

"From the looks of things you were about to execute the poor bird."

"At that point I wasn't."

"Then what were you doing?"

"…"

Brock had stayed relatively quiet as the two pokemon communicated. When the Greninja didn't respond to his Steelix's question, the tan man sighed and rubbed the back of his head. "Well, if anything, you did teach that kid a valuable lesson. He probably won't go around challenging every wild pokemon in sight now."

" _More for the Pidgey's sake then anything._ " Itachi said.

"Agreed. The pokemon are- HUH?!" Brock stared at Itachi as if he had grown a second head. "Telepathy? What kind of Greninja are you?" The Uchiha shrugged his shoulders at the question, but the man continued to talk. "Is it because of your look? Most Greninja are blue and white, but you're black and red. It's not unheard of to see a pokemon that's a different color, so it can't be that."

" _Sir?_ " It was getting frustrating listening to Brock talk about him when he was standing right there. What was the best way to shut the man up? An image of the Zoroark appeared in his head. 'Maybe…'

As Brock continued to talk, Itachi focused on the area around his body until his body transformed into the red and black fox from before. 'Just like Genjutsu from back home… just a little different though.'

"I see. So that's what's going on. Probably should have guessed based on your color." Brock said with a nodding of his head. "Although Zoroark's are extremely rare, and even scarcer around here."

" _Sounds like you've met one before_." Itachi commented, removing the illusion and transforming back into the Greninja.

"Once before, but the circumstances pit us against each other unfortunately." Brock said as he rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "But that's a story for another time. Can I ask you a question?" Itachi raised an eyebrow at the question, but nodded his head. "Are you lost?"

Lost? Not really. It was like he had a built in navigation system that told him where to go to get home, but what was home? Was it the place where his kind are raised, or was it the Shinigami telling him where to go? Even without a map Itachi could gauge where he was and move accordingly. " _No_."

"Then where are you going?"

" _I'm not sure_. _I just know I must head north for now_."

"Head north? Well, if you're not sure then we can travel together!" Brock said with a smile, making the Steelix smile at the trainer.

"He's always like this since he traveled with that boy. Quick to trust and help others in need." The Steelix said.

"Is that so…" Itachi muttered under his breath as Brock returned Steelix to his ball.

"Thanks for your help buddy." The ball then became smaller and was placed inside his vest. "Follow me and we can make it to Viridian City by nightfall." Brock walked past the black Greninja with a smile on his face.

'He seems nice enough, but can I trust him? I still know very little of this world and the people that live here. The pokemon are captured for sport, but they appear to be fine with the way things are going.' Itachi thought.

"Coming?" Brock asked, making the Uchiha look up at him and nodding his head. The Greninja followed the smiling man through the forest, picking a berry every now and then to eat. "Here we are! Route one. This should take us straight to Viridian City."

" _Who are you_?" Itachi finally asked. Brock stared at Itachi for a moment before laughing.

"Sorry, my mistake! My name is Brock and I'm the gym leader for the Pewter City gym." Brock replied.

" _Pewter City_?"

"Pewter City is just north of Viridian City."

"Then what are you doing down here?"

"Umm… I can't really understand you."

'Right, Telepathy.' " _What are you doing so far south then_?"

"I wanted to meet up with a friend of mine when he passes through the area." Brock said with a smile. "She and I are going to surprise Professor Oak."

Itachi sighed quietly and walked alongside the man in silence for the remainder of the trek. Trainers would pass by Brock and immediately recognize him, and would probably assume that Itachi was Brock's pokemon. It didn't take long for the two to make it to the city. The city was small, but had tall buildings poking up to the sky every now and then between the trees. If anything it was much larger then Pallet Town. The sun was beginning to set and the orange glow blanketed everything in its glorious warmth. We stopped in front of the pokemon center, which had a massive red ball on top of it.

"This is where I'm going to be staying the night. My friend should be coming in soon." Brock said, turning to Itachi. People were giving the Greninja strange looks, but otherwise passed it off as just another pokemon from another region. "Would you like to meet her? She's a… somewhat nice person."

" _I think I should be going. Thank you for your assistance, but I must keep moving_." Itachi replied.

"Oh, well okay then, but if there's any trouble come find me. I'll help in any way I can." Brock said as he extended a hand. The Uchiha looked at it and accepted the hand, but while he was gripping the hand Itachi transformed. Once the transformation was complete there stood a man with black hair and onyx eyes. He wore a black zip up jacket and black cargo pants. His jet black hair reached down to his chin and two lines ran down below both of his eyes. To Brock the human standing before him was about the same age as…

" _Will do._ " Itachi responded before turning and walking away. Brock stared at the person's back as he disappeared around the corner of a building and grinned.

"Zoroark's never cease to amaze me."

Itachi placed the hood attached to his jacket over his head once he was out of sight and continued walking down the street. Little did Itachi know, but a man stood on the opposite side of the street wearing a dark fedora and trench coat. As the Greninja, disguised as a human, walked by the man he smiled in a more than creepy manner before disappearing into the crowd of people.

 **XxXxX**

It has been a week since Itachi woke up in this strange world and during his travels the Greninja explored what he was capable of with this new body. Using all sorts of water based moves was strange, since he was so used to fire based attacks, but the illusions he could create were slightly different than the ones back home. While he could make people see things that aren't there, like him in his human form, the illusions are much more fragile. To compensate Itachi found that by layering the illusions, or making them more complicated to solve, would have a better effect. Although this wasn't recommended because it would quickly put a lot of strain on the Greninja. So, by using illusions that were simple and easily overlooked, it put much less strain on his body.

"How are you doing today sir?! Would you care for a battle?" A man asked as I walked passed him. I ignored him and continued walking. "Okay then, would another time would be best?!"

'These people all want to battle. What's with everyone wanting to fight?' Itachi thought as he glanced at a sign as he passed it. 'Route 27. Where in the world am I going? Something is telling me to go this way, but what?' The greninja stepped off the bridge he had been walking on and looked around. It was a tiny landmass tucked up against a mountain to his right. A small grouping of trees sat to his left with water directly in front of him. 'Where do I go from here?'

"Hello there!" A feminine voice shouted in glee. "We finally found you!"

Itachi looked around before finally looking up. A small pinkish pokemon with a long tail flew down in front of him and smiled brightly. The stoic Uchiha stared back at the Mew with little to no response. Instinct told him that this pokemon was extremely important to how the world works, but why should he care?

"Um, are you sure this is him?" The Mew asked. Itachi was confused who she was asking when suddenly a larger version of the Mew appeared next to her.

" _This is most defiantly him. Would you take down that illusion of yours?_ " The larger mew asked using telepathy.

"First, who are you two?" Itachi asked. The two looked at one another before looking back at Itachi.

"I'm Mew and this is Mewtwo!" Mew exclaimed with glee, making Mewtwo sigh at her excited behavior.

"I see. So why should I listen to you?" Itachi asked. Mewtwo was extremely strong, probably even stronger than he, but why should he listen to these two? "You appear before me and demand something of me without even giving a reason."

" _Why you little-_!" Mewtwo was clearly annoyed at what Itachi had said, but the smaller Mew seemed to have brought along a calm head.

"I'm sorry mister. We shouldn't have done that." The small being said with a bow. "We are here to figure out who you are and what you plan on doing."

"And why would you care who I am and what I'm doing?"

" _Because you're an anomaly._ " Mewtwo responded as he crossed his arms. " _We are trying to learn your intentions because we want to protect the pokemon around you_."

"And people!" Mew chimed in, making Mewtwo sigh once again. Itachi raised an eyebrow at the two, but nodded his head. Slowly the illusion that he had placed over himself melted away to reveal a black and crimson red Greninja. "Whoa! You look so… different."

"Satisfied?" Itachi asked.

" _Not until you tell us what you are planning to do_."

"And if I don't?" The Uchiha responded, making the Mewtwo quirk at the response.

" _Then I'll make you_." Mewtwo said as psychic power began to build in his hand. Itachi didn't move a muscle, but was setting up an illusion around the area that would help him in a fight against a psychic.

"Please stop!" Mew exclaimed as she jumped in between the two pokemon. "We didn't come here to fight!"

" _Then how do you plan to extract the information we need_?" Mewtwo asked. Why not just beat and extract the information with their innate psychic powers?

"I'll figure it out. Now please leave us." Mew said with a stern expression. Mewtwo didn't move at first, but complied after a silent conversation with himself. Teleporting away from the clearing, the only two left was Itachi and Mew. The illusion that Itachi had been setting up disappeared in a small breeze that passed over them. "I'm sorry for his short temper, but he has always been like that."

"What do you want from me?" Itachi was quick to the point. These two were getting on his nerves. Was being left alone too much to ask?

"We want to know if you're going to harm anyone and learn where you came from. That's all." Mew said in an almost desperate tone. She was clearly sad about how the conversation was going. It was almost as if she wanted to be friends with him at the start.

"And I want you to leave me alone." Itachi said as he walked passed the shocked pokemon. "I don't trust you nor do I want to. Just leave me be." Once the Greninja stopped at the water's edge, he looked over his shoulder and saw Mew hadn't moved from her floating position.

"W-Why don't you trust me?" Mew asked, on the verge of tears. She had always been the best talker out of all the legendary pokemon and had always been able to make friends with everybody, but this pokemon was different. It was as if he was treating them as potential enemies. Something Mew didn't want.

"Because, I don't want to." Itachi replied coldly before jumping into the water and swimming away. Mew stared at the swimming Greninja as he swam away, tears bleeding from her eyes. She hated not making friends with other people and pokemon alike, and when someone would reject her she would bug them until they liked her, but this Greninja was so cold that it felt like there was a wall of ice between them. Something that she could never melt on her own.

It was the complete opposite from what would normally happened. Mew always had a way to get others to open up and trust her. Like a second ability that she used oh so often. Was it her personality? Her aura that constantly surrounded her? Mew didn't know, but one thing was obvious… whatever helped her in past would not work on Itachi.

"Didn't go well?" Mewtwo asked, teleporting in next to her. When Mew didn't respond, the larger pokemon sighed. He rarely went with Mew on these little excursions, but Arceus personally asked him this time to help. Also, since the events at his now destroyed island, Mewtwo was more inclined to help his smaller counterpart. 'It's rare that Mew can't convince another pokemon to open up. What is he hiding?' A sniffle from his small companion brought his attention away from his thoughts. Tears were streaming down her face and her eyes remained on where the pokemon had just left. "Did it really hit you that hard?"

"I-It's just… what if he never o-opens up? He's s-so cold and c-closed to the rest of the world." Mew said between sniffles.

'He's just like I was before. Maybe we are more alike than I'd like to believe.' Mewtwo thought. Something about him felt reminiscent… akin to who he is. "Come on, let's return. He's going to want to hear about this."

"But if we tell him the truth then-!"

"He won't hurt him and you know that."

"Still…"

"It's what we are supposed to do."

With a heavy sigh, Mew nodded her head and wiped the tears from her eyes. "If you say so, but before we return could we stop for ice cream?!" Mewtwo shook his head at the way Mew could instantly bounce back to her normal bubbly self.

"You mean steal some?"

"Borrow! I've told you that!"

"Borrowing something then not returning it is considered stealing Mew."

"Shhhh! I can't hear you!" Mew said before flying into the air, followed by a reluctant Mewtwo.

 **XxXxX**

 **AN:** Welp, it's certainly been a while. Again, I'm sorry for the long wait, but I've been having trouble lately. I won't bore you with the details, but I want you all to know that I really appreciate all the kind things you've said. The largest battle that I've had to struggle with is time. Writing, on any of my stories, has been a struggle for me because of the hours that I've taken at my jobs, but it was to fuel a passion of mine that lay outside of writing.

I'm going to travel overseas again for a few months because, as some of you may know, that I have an impulse to go and experience new cultures. China, South Korea, Italy, Mexico, Canada, and now I can add more countries onto that list.

For this story I have the next… 6 chapters written already? I could post them up before I leave, but then I won't be able to begin writing again for a few months. Not entirely sure what to do there, but anyways…

I love you all, and I hope my stories has brought many hours of screen staring for you!


	3. Those Rainy Days

**XxXxX**

'Did I go a little too far?' Itachi thought as he sat on the edge of the lake he had just crossed. 'She seemed to have a kind heart, but that could be a front. Those two could very well be the enemy for all I know.' Looking down at his hand, Itachi clenched it shut in frustration. 'I was sent here for a reason and I don't even know why. Is there even an enemy that I should be hunting?' Confused and annoyed, Itachi stood up and walked towards the small village that was nestled next to the lake he had just crossed.

Turning into a human before anyone could see, Itachi walked by the small quiet buildings. Some people were hanging out their laundry while others swept their porches of any dirt or dust that may have collected in their absence. Tall trees covered the midafternoon sky as a flock of Pidgey's darted through the trees in what looked to be a game of tag.

"Hello there young man!" A voice called out from the edge of Itachi's peripheral vision. Glancing over, the Greninja in disguise saw a tall lanky man fumbling around with a stack of papers and bags full of equipment. "Could you please help me before I drop something?!"

The Uchiha briefly considered just ignoring the request and continue about his travels, but he thought otherwise when he recognized the coat he was wearing. 'Is he a professor like Oak?' Making his way over to the stumbling man, Itachi took a few bags out of the man's arms.

"Thank you ever so kindly. If it wasn't for you then I'd have broken something!" The man said happily.

'Certainly as nice as Oak.' Itachi thought as he followed the man down the path.

"My lab is just up ahead." The man said as a building that looked somewhat like Oaks appeared before them. As they approached the doors Itachi saw a sign that had the list of attendants working in the lab. Professor Elm was the first name on the list, with a picture of him as well.

'So he is a professor.' The two entered the lab and walked through a series of hallways before entering into a room that looked vaguely similar to the one back in Pallet Town.

"Just put them down over there please. Thank you." Elm said as he placed the papers down onto one of the empty desks. Once the burden was removed from his arms, the lanky professor sighed in relief. "Boy were those heavy! It's been a while since I brought my research home like that." He then looked over to Itachi, who had been standing quietly near the door. "Oh where are my manners! My name is Professor Elm, and I'm the researcher for the Johto region." Extending out a hand, Itachi accepted it and nodded his head.

Pointing to his throat, Elm nodded in understanding. "Are you a mute?" With a nod of Itachi's own, Elm sighed as he rubbed the back of neck. "Sorry, it must be tough." Itachi shrugged and looked at the screen on the wall. A greninja sat on the screen, but what really quirked the Uchiha's interest was the fact that it was black.

'So Oak shared the information with the other professors. Should have expected as much.'

Elm must have seen the way Itachi was looking at the screen because he quickly cut off the screen. "Sorry, but that information is something my colleges and I are studying. It needs to stay a secret for the time being. If it's even true…" Sighing, Itachi nodded his head before making his way towards the door. Staying here any longer was pointless, and the urge to move west was pulling him along at a steady pace.

"We're here to pick up our pokemon Professor Elm!" A girl shouted as she burst through the door that Itachi was just about to leave out of. The stoic Uchiha jumped backwards before the door could hit his nose and saw two children, about ten, standing at the door. In his human form, Itachi looked to be around fourteen. So his body was slightly taller than that of the two new comers.

"Watch where you're going Sarah! You almost hit someone!" The boy exclaimed. He wore a yellow short sleeve shirt and brown shorts. His hair was pure green with blue eyes.

"Sorry Alec." Sarah said with a sheepish smile. She had tan skin and chocolate brown eyes and hair. Her attire consisted of a red cap and shorts with her sleeveless shirt being white.

"Don't apologize to me. He's the one you almost hit." Alec said with a scoff.

"Sorry for almost hitting you." Sarah said. I looked at the two kids, then back to Elm, who blinked at the situation.

"Oh right! This young man here is mute. He cannot talk whatsoever." Elm stated.

"That must stink. Not being able to talk and all." Alec said with a frown. "Are you a trainer?" Shaking his head in the negative, Itachi couldn't be trainer even if he wanted to. "I guess you couldn't be without being able to talk."

"Don't be so mean Alec!" Sarah said as she jumped next to the stoic Uchiha.

"Well it's true!" Alec responded while crossing his arms.

"But you don't have to rub it in…" Sarah replied with a frown, but her vision finally landed on the disguised Greninja. "Do you have a name?" Blinking, Itachi thought of a way to tell them his name without revealing his telepathy powers. It was then that Elm handed him a piece of paper and a pen.

Itachi wrote his name down and handed it to the girl. "I… Itachi?" Nodding his head, the girl smiled brightly. "What a nice name."

"I was wondering what your name was since we first met. Good to finally learn your name Itachi." Elm said with a smile of his own.

"Right, right, we're all very happy to learn his name, but we came here for another reason, remember professor?" Alec said as he walked to the center of the lab.

"Right! Today is the day you start off on your journey! There are three pokemon you can choose from." Professor Elm said as he pulled up three separate pokemon onto the screen. "The grass type Chikorita. The fire type Cyndaquil. And last, but not least, the water type Totodile."

"I want Chikorita!" Sarah said as she grabbed the ball off the table.

"Figured you'd choose her. Alec?" Elm then turned to the young man who was looking between the two pokeballs on the table.

"Hmm… I think I'll choose Cyndaquil." Alec said as he picked up the ball.

"Very good! Now here are your pokedex's. Just point that at a pokemon and it should give you all the information we have on it." Professor Elm said with glee. He then turned to Itachi, who was watching by the door quietly. "I would also like to extend the offer to you. Would you like a starter pokemon as well?"

"But he can't talk! Why would he get a pokemon?" Alec asked.

"Because there are more ways to communicate between pokemon and trainer than just shouting commands." Professor Elm said. Itachi shook his head and waved his hands nervously. "Huh? Don't want one?"

Writing something down onto the paper, Itachi handed it back to the older man. "So you don't want to be a trainer then? That's okay. Not all of us wish to be trainers like Alec and Sarah here." The Professor then turned to the two kids. "You two run along now. I've got a lot of research to do and very little time. Good luck on your journey and contact me whenever you can."

"Will do Professor Elm. We'll both become the best trainers in Johto!" Alec exclaimed. Elm chuckled softly before ushering out the three younger kids.

"I'm sure you will be. Goodbye!" With that Elm closed the door to his lab, leaving Itachi, Sarah, and Alec on the street.

"He sure seemed to be in a rush, didn't he?" Sarah asked.

"Well he is a busy man." Alec stated before walking down the road heading out of New Bark Town and towards Route 29. "Lets go Sarah. I want to make it to Cherrygrove by tomorrow around lunch."

"What about Itachi?" Sarah asked.

"What about him?"

"Shouldn't we ask if he wants to come along?"

"I doubt he'd want to. He's only here because Professor Elm had him help carry things."

"So? That doesn't mean he won't want to come along." Sarah said as she looked over to the quiet Uchiha. "Would you like to travel with us to Cherrygrove?"

'If Cherrygrove is west then I don't see a point not to. If anything I can learn how people and pokemon interact with one another.' Nodding his head, Sarah smiled brightly.

"Yay! We have another companion to travel with!" Sarah said as she grabbed onto Itachi's arm and pulled him along. "Come on! We've got a ways to go before we make it to Cherrygrove!"

"Wait." The two connected people looked behind them to see Alec pull out his pokeball.

"What are you doing Alec?" Sarah asked, releasing Itachi from her grasp, much to the latter's relief.

"Before we start, there's one thing we need to do." His smile growing with each passing second.

"And that would be?"

"Lets have a battle!" Alec exclaimed before throwing out his pokeball. "Come on out Cyndaquil!" A small pokemon burst from the ball in a bright light.

"Finally out of that ball!" The poke exclaimed as a fire shot out of its back.

"Good idea! Lets go Chikorita! Lets show them what we're made of!" Sarah shouted, doing the same as Alec and releasing her pokemon from the pokeball.

"Lets have some fun!" Chikorita said brightly. Itachi grinned at what the pokemon said to one another and leaned against a nearby tree. A trainer's first battle should be interesting to watch.

"I won't lose! Not in my first battle!" Alec shouted. "Cyndaquil use tackle!"

The pokemon complied and dashed at the grass type pokemon.

"Dodge Chikorita and use Tackle as well!" Chikorita narrowly dodged the attack and smashed her head into the side of Cyndaquil, making him tumble to the side.

"Cyndaquil!" Alec exclaimed in worry.

"Follow it up with Growl!" Sarah shouted. A light shout sent shivers down the Cyndaquil's body as he stood up.

"Don't let her get to you Cyndaquil! Use Tackle!" Alec shouted, making Itachi frown.

'Alec's not applying any thought to this fight. He's only attacking until something breaks his way.'

Sarah grinned at the command. "Tackle as well Chikorita! Meet them head on!" The two pokemon ran towards each other at a fast pace before meeting head against head. Grinding against one another, Chikorita slowly began to overpower the Cyndaquil until finally the leaf pokemon found an opening that provided a devastating blow to Cyndaquil's stomach.

"No!" Alec shouted as he ran over to his downed pokemon. Cyndaquil wasn't knocked out, just roughed up a bit.

"Looks like I win! Good job Chikorita! We won out first battle!" Sarah said as the leaf pokemon jumped into her arms with a bright smile of her own.

'So this is the bond between pokemon and trainer.' Itachi thought as he watched Sarah and Chikorita smile with one another. 'They share their victories and happiness together.' He then looked to Alec and his roughed up Cyndaquil. 'And their losses and hardships together.'

"It was a good match Alec. I just barely won." Sarah said as she extended a hand to Alec, who sighed and took it.

"I'll get you next time. Don't you worry about that." Alec responded as Chikorita jumped from Sarah's arms and walked over to Cyndaquil.

"Are you okay?" Chikorita asked, concern in her voice.

"I'm fine. Just a few bruises is all." Cyndaquil said as he stood up.

"Well then we should get going if we plan on making any progress today." Alec stated, a certain edge to his voice.

"Right, lets go guys!" Sarah said with enthusiasm.

 **XxXxX**

'Do these two ever stop arguing?' Itachi thought as the two began bickering once more. It's only been six hours since they left and all they've done was argue over pointless little things. And, worst of all, Sarah wouldn't stop asking me annoying questions. 'Traveling with Kisame wasn't nearly as bad as this. At least he respected my privacy, but…' He looked over at the two children and, ever so slightly, a small grin appeared on his face. 'I can't say I don't enjoy the company of others.'

"So Itachi…" Sarah began. Here we go again. "Where are you from? You never told us back in New Bark Town." Looking down at the piece of paper that he retrieved from Professor Elm, the stoic Greninja noticed that the entire piece of paper had already been filled with other answers he had given her. Itachi sighed and pointed to the paper. "Oh, are you out of room?" Gaining a nod from the quiet one, Sarah kicked a rock down the path in frustration. "Man, and we don't have any paper either."

"Well that gives him an excuse to stop answering all your annoying questions." Alec stated as they passed another group of trainers heading towards New Bark Town.

"Hey! What do you mean _annoying_?!" Sarah exclaimed. Itachi pinched the bridge of nose before looking up into the sky. The sun was beginning to go down and it was probably time to set up camp.

"Well you've been asking him random questions since we left, and from the looks of it he was getting tired of them." Alec replied nonchalantly.

"Excuse me for wanting to learn more about our new friend." Sarah said with an audible huff. The stoic Uchiha looked at Sarah in confusion. Friend? When did they think of him like that? He was just going to stay with them until he deemed it necessary to leave. The only reason he was staying with them now was because they knew the fastest route west.

"He'll tell us in time. No need to worry." Alec stated before looking over to the right. "There's a good clearing over there where we can set up camp."

"Finally! My stomach was beginning to kill me!" Sarah exclaimed as the three made their way to the clearing. It was small, but there was already a place to use as a fire pit.

"Looks like someone else camped out here before. Lucky us!" Alec said as he placed his backpack onto the ground. "I'll go gather some firewood if you two can start setting up the tents and stuff."

"We'll get it done!" Sarah said with a salute. Alec waved and disappeared into the forest.

"Lets start with the tents." Sarah said with a bright smile. Itachi nodded and took Alec's tent out of his bag. After setting it up, Itachi then helped Sarah with hers. They were both one person tents in the shape of a triangle pyramid. Sarah placed Alec's backpack inside of his tent, then her backpack into her own.

"Hey, Itachi?" Sarah said making the quiet Uchiha look over at her in question. "Where's your stuff? I just noticed that you don't have a backpack or anything." He shrugged and continued fixing the fire pit, making it worthy of a decent fire. "Do you not-?"

"Back with the firewood!" Alec said as he walked into the campsite. "You two did a pretty good job! Sarah didn't make you do most of the work, did she Itachi?"

"I did not! I pulled my fare share, didn't I?" Sarah asked, making the stoic Uchiha nod. "See!"

"Well whatever. Lets get this fire going." Alec then placed the wood into the fire pit and set it ablaze with some matches. "Just like my pa taught me! So, what should I have?" He then grabbed his bag and began rummaging through it. "Oh, here we go! Pasta, my favorite."

"I think I'll make some too." Sarah said as she pulled out a pot and poured some water into it. "Want to combine them?"

"Sure. It will make it faster to cook." Alec handed Sarah his box before looking over to Itachi. "What are you having? Plenty of room on the fire." Itachi shook his head. "Not hungry? Okay then… if you say so."

"Are you sure? If you don't have any food then we could share." Sarah said, but Itachi declined again with a shaking of his head. The two looked at each other in concern. Was he alright?

Alec and Sarah cooked their food and ate in silence, much to Itachi's surprise. When they were finished, and the dishes clean, Alec stood up from his log seat. "Guess I'll go get some water from the creek to put out the fire." Before the boy could grab the bucket, Itachi picked it up. "What are you… oh, you want to do it? Thanks man!" Alec said, patting him on the back.

"Need some help?" Sarah asked, but Alec rolled his eyes at the question.

"Come on Sarah, he's just going to get some water from the creek. Besides, we need to feed our pokemon. This works out perfectly." Alec stated, making the tan girl frown, but nod. They had pokemon now so they needed to take care of them.

"Just be careful not to trip on anything. It's dark out there." Sarah said.

Itachi waved over his shoulder and then disappeared into the night. Once he was out of sight of the two new trainers, the Uchiha dropped the illusion and sighed in relief. Holding up an illusion for that long was hard and consumed a lot of energy. Grabbing his stomach in hunger, Itachi began his search for a berry bush. It has been his primary source of food since leaving Viridian City and there seemed to be an abundance of them everywhere. Instinct told him which berries where good to eat, and which were not. Guess he had his pokemon side to thank for that.

Finding a bush of blueish berries, Itachi immediately began digging in until he was full. Content with his full stomach, Itachi made his way to the small creek that Alec had mentioned before and filled up the bucket full of water.

"You…" Itachi stopped and looked behind him to see a pokemon standing in the darkness. "You're not natural." Remaining quiet as the pokemon finally emerged from the darkness, Itachi guessed its name was Vileplume from the way it was talking. "The color of your skin... how much did they do to you? How much pain did those filthy humans put you through before they came to this? An abomination that only the twisted mind of a human could conjure up." Narrowing his eyes at the obvious insult, Itachi began walking away from the plant like pokemon, bucket in hand. It was true that humans made this body, or changed it was probably a better word. Hell, him being here wasn't natural, but here he was. "I hope that one day you can get your revenge on those who wronged you. You deserve it." This wasn't the first time another pokemon has spoken out about his changes since the start of his travels, but never has someone talked so harshly about it.

As Itachi approached the camp he slipped back into human form. What did that pokemon mean revenge? From the looks of it the lab had all but been destroyed and abandoned. It was miracle that he even made it out alive, let alone waking up with a tube stuck down his throat. As awkward as it felt pulling it out, that tube was probably the reason this body lived for that long. A mixture of food and water was being pumped into his stomach to nourish it, but how was it was still working? The Uchiha had no idea. All he knew now was that he was alive, and he needed to accomplish something.

Walking into the campsite, Itachi saw that the other two had already fallen asleep within their respective tents. Smiling lightly, the raven haired young man poured the water onto the fire as quietly as he could before setting the bucket down and walking back into the forest. Finding a good place to hide and sleep, Itachi dropped his illusion once more and sat against his wooden bed. His mind traveling to a place far away, or, more specifically, a place he could no longer return to.

 **XxXxX**

"Itachi!" A voice broke his sleep as the Greninja opened his eyes. Looking around, Itachi saw that he was in the same place he had fallen asleep in the night before. There was clouds in the sky that threatened to rain at any moment. "Where are you Itachi?!" It was Sarah, but she sounded like she was in panic. Changing back into his human form, Itachi ran towards the voice until bursting through a bush. "Eek!" Looking up, Itachi saw that Sarah was on the ground clutching her chest in pure shock, but where was Alec?

"Don't scare me like that!" Sarah shouted as she stood up, an angry look adorning her features. She saw that the raven haired boy was looking around, as if looking for something. "Alec is by the path already. He said that maybe you were waiting there for us and went on ahead." Getting a nod from the Uchiha. Sarah sighed and knocked him on the head lightly, getting a questionable look from the boy. "You had us worried that maybe you had left on your own during the night."

'So you were worried that maybe I had left? Why do they care?' Itachi thought as he placed his hand onto her back and pushed her along. 'Also, when did I start caring for their safety? They're just traveling companions for now. Nothing more.'

"Hey! Stop pushing!" Sarah exclaimed with a pout adorning her face. Once the two made the short trek to the path, Alec saw Itachi and sighed in relief.

"Had us scared that something may have happened to you last night. Glad to see you're okay." The green haired boy said as he lightly punched Itachi's shoulder. "Alright, since we're all here and ready to go, lets get moving!"

"Looks like it's about to rain. Maybe we should start moving a little quicker." Sarah commented.

"Yeah, but at least we brought ponchos just in case." Alec responded.

"I'm not worried about us…" Sarah muttered as she glanced over to Itachi, who kept looking forward, neglecting to show any signs of hearing what they were talking about.

After a few hours of walking a rain drop fell onto Itachi's nose. 'Looks like the rain is coming, but with this frog like body I should be just fine.'

"I told you it was gonna rain!" Sarah said as she readied her poncho.

"We're only a few minutes out. Don't worry." Alec said as he put on his own poncho. "Are you going to be okay Itachi?" The Greninja in question nodded his head at the question. "Even still lets get moving before it starts coming down really hard!"

With that the three began running along the path. The rain steadily becoming heavier as they neared the town. "Finally made it! Lets find a pokemon center where we can dry off!" Sarah shouted over the rain as they ran down the street. The city was beautiful, with flowers growing all over the place, but the three had no time for sightseeing. The streets were empty for the most part, except for a stray trainer trying to hurry onto their next gym badge.

"I think there's a short cut up here! Follow me!" Alec shouted as he rounded a corner into an alleyway. Following the green haired boy, Itachi and Sarah rounded the corner with him, but stopped about halfway into said alleyway as a man blocked the end. He wore a navy blue trench coat with a fedora adorning his head. In his hand was a device of some sort, which he was pointing at the group. "W-What's going on here?!"

The man laughed as he took a step forward, his foot splashing into a puddle on the ground. "You've done well to hide yourself all this time. Must take a lot of energy to stay that way though." He had black eyes and dark orange hair.

"What are you talking about? Can we just leave?" Alec asked in complete confusion. Itachi glanced over his shoulder to see another man, wearing a similar outfit to the one in front of them, blocking the exit behind them. He had black hair and purple eyes.

"You two may go, but you…" The man pointed to Itachi and grinned. "He stays here."

"Why would he stay here? What are you planning to do to him?!" Sarah asked, clearly not liking where this was going.

"We're just going to ask him a few questions is all. Now run along kids." The man said with a patronizing voice.

"And if we say no?" Alec stated more than asked. The man frowned, but pulled out a pokeball and tossed it into the air. A massive orange dog like pokemon appeared in front of them.

"A-An Arcanine?!" Sarah said as her eyes widened.

"Sure is. He's one of the most powerful fire types there is. Although this rain is surely dampening his spirits a bit." The Arcanine growled at the three with an angry expression.

"What should we do? He has an Arcanine!" Sarah asked her two friends in fear of what was to come.

"Looks like we've got to battle." Alec said as he reached for his pokeball.

"I know, but how are we going to defeat it? There's someone else behind us as well." Sarah said as they looked behind them. Indeed, the other man stood there quietly. Waiting to see what they were going to do.

"Then you take him while I take on the-." Alec began to say, but stopped when a hand was placed onto his shoulder. "Itachi?" The raven haired boy shook his head and advanced towards the man with the Arcanine. "Itachi what are you doing?!"

"Finally ready to turn yourself in, HY01?" The man asked with a smile.

"HY01? What is he talking about?" Sarah asked.

"Oh, he didn't tell you? That's not actually a human boy standing in front of you. It's actually…" The man said as Itachi let the illusion melt away with the rain to reveal a black and crimson Greninja.

"A pokemon…" Alec finished in shock.

"B-But how?" Sarah asked in complete confusion and shock.

"For another time kid." The man said before looking at Itachi. "Looks like that device in you still works pretty well. I figured it would have shut off by now, but lucky for us it's still on." Looking down at himself, Itachi placed a hand onto his upper left hip. "Yeah, right there. It was the reason why we were able to track you all the way to Johto." The man laughed at the situation before patting his pokemon on the side. "Well, enough talk. Lets bring you in HY01. I'm sure the boss will be excited to hear that one of his failures actually turned out to be alive and well."

Before Arcanine got the chance to move, Itachi dashed forward towards them. "Planning on fighting?! Well, we'll give you fi- Hey!" The man began to say, but stopped when Itachi jumped towards one of the walls and sprang himself over the massive beast by launching himself off the brick building. Landing onto the muddy ground behind them Itachi gave one last look at his two traveling partners before dashing away.

"Arcanine, after him! Don't let him get away!" The man shouted as he hopped up onto his fire pokemon and gave chase to the fleeing Greninja. The other man that was on the opposite side of the alleyway ran past the two stunned trainers in an attempt to catch up to his comrade.

 **XxXxX**

Itachi ran down the wet streets of Cherrygrove as fast as he could. His plan had worked, get the men away from Sarah and Alec. Now all he had to do was lose them, but how? From what that man had told him, there was a device implanted into his side that could tell them exactly where he was at all times. Before another thought crossed his mind, he heard the man behind him shout something to his pokemon. Looking over his shoulder, the Uchiha's eyes widened as a massive flame came racing after him.

Jumping forward as far as he could, the flame smashed into the ground and made a rather large explosion. The force of the blast sent Itachi flying forwards past a few buildings and into a large patch of flowers that edged a small forest on the southern side of the city, where he slid to a stop after finding his footing. Standing up, the Uchiha looked over and saw the large dog walking towards him. They were coming close to the ocean, Itachi could smell the salt in the air and see the docks in the distance.

"You can't run, you know that right? Even if you do somehow manage to escape we'll just keep chasing you until you're at your weakest." The man said as he hopped off his pokemon. "Just give up. There's no point." Frowning, Itachi got into a fighting stance. "So you're gonna fight? Alright then lets see what those stupid lab rats cooked up. Arcanine, use Flamethrower!"

Flames began to ignite inside the large pokemon's mouth before it shot out at an alarming rate towards the Greninja. Dashing to the side, Itachi formed a ball of water in his hands and threw it at the massive dog. "Dodge and use Extreme Speed!" The Arcanine grinned as he dodged the Water Pulse, which smashed into the ground and made a large explosion. As the fire dog landed he almost immediately disappeared from where he had stood. The stoic Uchiha quickly raised an illusion around himself and jumped to the side as the dog smashed into the illusion from behind. Arcanine flew right through it and slid to a halt next to his trainer. "Illusions? I guess that makes sense given what those egg heads mixed you with, but that won't stop you from losing! Arcanine, use Fire Blast!"

Roaring as he charged up its attack, a massive fire wave in the shape of a person came flying at Itachi. Breathing in as much as he could, Itachi let loose his own water based attack in the form of a Hydro Pump. The attacks collided and created a massive explosion which rocketed the earth beneath them. The smoke was quickly beginning to clear as the rain continued to fall.

'Continuing this fight is pointless. It's as he says, even if I defeat him here they'll just keep chasing me until I'm captured. I would keep defeating them until I'm eventually worn down from running and fighting. I need to get this thing out of me.' Itachi thought as he turned and ran into the woods that boarded the field of flowers.

Once the smoke cleared, the man saw Itachi running into the woods. "Running again?! You know you can't get away!" Jumping onto his pokemon, the pair gave chase once again to the fleeing pokemon. As they entered the small forest, the two saw an old wooden hut with a tin roof sitting against several trees. The man looked down at his device and saw that the fleeing pokemon was indeed inside. "Lets check it out. Be cautious though. This is _the_ hybrid we're talking about here." His partner nodded and the two carefully entered the hut. Looking around, the man saw old tools hanging up on the walls and an old tool bench sitting at the center near the back. The rain that splashed against the tin roof gave off an almost soothing sound to the pair, but this was neither the time nor the place to relax.

"Wait… is that?" The man said as he looked down onto the tool bench. A flashing red light could be seen blinking off a golf ball sized device. It was covered in blood along with a bloodied garden planter sitting next to it. "D-Did he-?!" But before he could finish his thought a massive force of water smashed into the back of his Arcanine. The Hydro Pump sent his pokemon flying into his trainer, who collided with the tool bench in a crumpled mess. Standing in the rain, stood Itachi with one hand clutching his side where blood could be seen slowly oozing out. The trainer began to shake off the daze of being shoved into the wall, but before he could collect his thoughts a round-the-house kick smacked the man unconscious. Looking over at the pokemon, Itachi confirmed that it was indeed unconscious before exiting the hut and walking towards the field of flowers.

'Looks like they won't be able to follow me any longer, whoever they are.' Itachi thought as he exited the forest, only to see the other man standing on the other side of said field.

"Man, it looks like my friend really did a number you. To actually manage to get a hit in is impressive! Given what you are and all." The man said as he lifted his device with a grin. "But I don't really understand why he wanted to capture you. Our orders was to 'dispose of any loose ends regarding Project Unity'. I guess he wanted to get some extra points in with the boss by capturing you and all. Can't blame him really, I'd love a powerful pokemon like you under my command as well, but I'm not the same person as him." Flicking the switch, a red light began glowing on the device he was holding. "You see, that little tracking device inside of you is not only there to track you down, but contain you as well if the need ever came up. Attached to it is a remote control bomb that can be detonated at any time from this device here if we are in range." Itachi's eyes widened when he realized where the device had been left. "You finally realize it then! Goodbye HY01. It was fun hunting ya and all."

He then pressed the button down, but to his surprise the explosion wasn't in front of his eyes. Off in the forest behind Itachi a large explosion erupted, shaking the ground and completely destroying the hut where the Uchiha had left it. "What in the, what in the world was that!" The man shouted in a mixture of anger and confusion. He lifted another device and began speaking into it, a walkie-talkie perhaps? "Grahm? What happened? Are you there?" His eyes began to widen as he looked to Itachi. "Don't tell me… that wound in your side…" Anger began to take hold as he realized what had happened. "You left the device with him, didn't you?!" Itachi remained quiet as he watched tears begin to stream down his face which mixed with the rain falling from the sky. Looking to the side, this gave the man all the answers he needed. "So he's dead then. You son of a- I'll kill you!" He shouted as he pulled out a pokeball. "I'll kill you myself if I have to! Not just for the sake of the mission, but for Grahm! Go Scyther, slice this murderer to pieces!" A green bug like pokemon appeared in front of Itachi, anger reflected in its eyes as well.

Clutching his wound, Itachi heard a loud horn blaring in the background. Looking over, a massive boat sat in the dock, readying to leave for a place unknown to the Greninja. 'It's either that or fight him while wounded.' Creating an illusion of him still standing motionless, Itachi quickly dashed away from the man and his Scyther. Moving as quickly as he could towards the docks in the distance.

"Scyther, use Slash!" The pokemon eagerly complied as his blade like hand cut through the illusion, making it melt away with the rain. "Where did you go, murderer!" Catching him out of the corner of his eye, the man saw Itachi running down the side of the hill towards the docks. "There he is! Kill him before he gets away!" The bug dashed towards the black Greninja as he nearly slid down the muddy slopes of the hill. Another loud horn signaled that the boat was nearly about to depart, and there was no way Itachi was about to miss it. Landing onto the pier that the boat was docked on, the Uchiha rolled forwards just as a blade sliced into the concrete. Spinning on his hands, Itachi slammed one of his feet into the Scyther, making it recoil from the attack. With one last attack, Itachi threw four water kunai at the bug. Hitting its chest directly, the Scyther stumbled back even further, but was still far from down. Quickly dashing towards the boat that was about to take off, Itachi transformed into a human and nuzzled into a group of last minute joiners.

He skillfully slipped onto the boat with a family that hardly even noticed he was there. Sighing, Itachi looked over his shoulder to see the man and his Scyther running towards the boat. "I need to get onto this boat!" The man shouted to the ticket man, who was already miserable due to the heavy rain.

"Do you have a ticket sir?"

"No, I don't."

"Then try again another time. This boat is setting off now. I'm sorry." The man said as he began to walk onto the boat.

"Well I'm not leaving until I get on this boat! Scyther!" The man shouted as the pokemon moved to attack, making the ticket man recoil in fear.

"You're under arrest for the destruction of public property!" A woman in a police poncho shouted as she grabbed the man's arm and bent it behind his back. The Scyther went to make a move, but was slammed to the ground by a fire attack from a Growlithe.

"If you can hear me HY01! I will find you! And when I do I'll kill you myself! Do hear me! I'll-!" But before he could finish his last sentence he was smashed over the head with a police baton. Effectively knocking him unconscious.

Itachi frowned as he walked away from the railing and out of the heavy rain. There was a crowd watching the spectacle from the ship and several people were wondering if the man was crazy or if something may have happened. Quietly, Itachi traveled into the depths of the ship in search of some spare medical supplies. Finding a small amount gauze from a nearly empty medical container, the wounded Greninja balled up the wrapping and placed it over his wound. During all of this, he noticed he was in a part of the ship that nobody, save for the engineers, ever traveled to. Making it the perfect place to hide until they reached wherever they were heading.

Over the intercom, a man began explaining what was going to happen. "We will be setting sail within the next couple of minutes and make landfall at Altomare in approximately one hour and thirty minutes. Please enjoy the trip and don't forget anything of value." Clutching his wound tightly, Itachi sat down against the metal wall of the boiler room.

'Hopefully I can scavenge some more medical supplies when I get there. Until then, this will have to do.' Itachi thought with a frown. 'I hope Sarah and Alec are okay…'

 **XxXxX**

 **AN:** So this is going to be the last chapter I can post before I leave on my trip tomorrow. When I return I'll be sure to add another chapter saying that I'm back, but I don't know how long I'll be gone for. So we shall see!

I love you all and I hope you like this chapter!


	4. Creating Bonds

**XxXxX**

'It's certainly raining hard today.' Latias thought as she looked out the window. 'If this keeps up we may have a small flood.'

"Latias, when are you going to change into someone different?" A girl asked as she shook off her boots from her feet by the door. In one hand was large bag of groceries and the other a navy blue umbrella. She was wearing a green shirt and a white skirt along with a white hat. Silently giggling, Latias smiled at the new arrival before walking over and hugging the girl. Her name was Bianca and she was the legendary pokemon's best friend since she was young. "You're never going to change, are you?"

The pokemon shook her head with a big smile on her face before pointing to the door. "Got to make your rounds? It is about that time, isn't it? Tell the others I said hello if you don't come back here afterwards." Bianca said as she opened the door for her friend. Nodding her head, Latias walked out into the rain and almost immediately was drenched. Transforming into her natural state, the eon dragon became invisible and began flying about the city.

Most of the people were inside their homes to get away from the downpour, but a few were walking about the city. The shops also began to close up early, seeing that there was little business to be had during this weather. 'What a bad time for it to rain! The Summer Festival is starting tomorrow and everything will be all wet!' Latias thought as something caught her eye. 'A ship? Oh yeah, a ship was supposed to come around this time!' Deciding to see who got off the ship, Latias quickly flew over to the ship as its passengers steadily got off the large boat. 'I always love watching people come into the city! New faces are fun to see… who is…?' A black hooded boy then limped down the ramp clenching his side when he was sure nobody was looking. After his feet touched the ground, the boy looked up into the rainy sky and glanced in the Latias's direction before making his way down a passageway.

'Why is he holding his side like that?' The eon dragon thought as she followed the boy as he made his way down an alleyway and onto another street. He looked lost, but at the same time was looking for something. What made the dragon even more curious was that there was something… off about the boy. She couldn't place a claw on it, but there was _something_. By this time the boy had stopped in front of a drug store and frowned at the closed sign. Latias floated down close to him and saw what he was looking at. 'A pharmacy?' The boy turned his body to the point where he was staring at her, who nervously stared back. 'Can he?' But her thought was answered as he walked forward without even reaching to touch her. With a sigh of relief, Latias continued to follow the boy until he made a turn into a small courtyard. There was a single fountain at the center along with three benches surrounding it.

Sitting on one of the benches, the boy leaned back into the wood and stared up into the raining sky once again. It was only now where Latias had managed to get a good look at the boy's face, and she was shocked. His onyx eyes held nothing but a cold void where nothing could be seen. He grasped onto his side even tighter than before. 'Is he… in pain?'

" _You can come out from hiding. I know you're there_." The boy said without opening his mouth as he eyes traveled to the shocked floating dragon. A small mental battle erupted in her head as she thought of what to do. Fleeing was the first thought that came to mind, but when her eyes looked over the boy a worry began to overcome her being. Taking the risk, she became visible to the boy, who only stared at her with indifference.

"You aren't a human, are you?" Latias asked, her eyes worriedly eyeing the clenched side.

"…" The boy stared at the floating dragon for a solid thirty seconds before he shook his head. "No, I'm not."

"Are you hurt?" The eon dragon asked as she pointed to his side with one of her claws. Now it was obvious that he wasn't a human, having spoken in a speech close to a pokemon.

"Why do you care?" The boy asked in a cold tone. Latias slightly recoiled at the question.

"Because I can help you if you're hurt!" Latias said as the boy clenched his teeth as another wave of pain racked his body. The illusion that covered the boy began to distort, revealing a black and crimson Greninja. And while the legendary thought the color was strange, her eyes widened when she saw the flowing blood coming from underneath the Greninja's hand. The gauze that he was holding was soaked from both his blood and the rain that poured relentlessly from above. "You are hurt!" The kind legendary quickly moved to help, but abruptly stopped when, to her surprise, the wounded Greninja lifted up his free hand to reveal a water kunai armed and ready to fight.

"Stay right where you are." The Greninja ordered. His breaths were becoming heavier with each passing second, making the legendary worry even more for his safety.

"Please! Let me help you! If this keeps up then you'll…" Latias's eyes widened when the thought of her brother's sacrifice came to mind.

"How do I know I can trust you? You appear out of thin air and say you want to help me. How do I know you aren't working for them?" Greninja asked, clearly beginning to feel the loss of blood as the kunai in his hand was beginning to melt away with the rain.

"I won't sit here and watch someone die. Not when I have the power to do something about it!" Latias shouted she moved towards the wide eyed Greninja. The eon dragon lifted her arm towards suspicious pokemon and as she did so his hand fell limp to his side, the water kunai combining with the water on the ground. The water pokemon went to say something, but before he could speak a word he toppled over onto the bench, losing consciousness. "Greninja!" Flying as quickly as she could, Latias looked over the wound in panic. Picking up the bleeding pokemon, Latias flew to the only place she could possibly find some help.

 **XxXxX**

"Dinner's almost ready Grandpa!" Bianca shouted from the kitchen of their two story house. It was small, connected to the workshop, and right on a tiny canal, but it was perfect and the two couldn't ask for anything more.

"Be right there! Just locking the windows in the living room!" Lerenzo shouted from the opposite room. Bianca smiled as she went back to stirring the pot of soup. In the mail that day she had received a letter of acceptance from a very famous art school in the Kalos region. Meaning she could receive even more training for her already bright art career! Humming a tune to herself, Bianca dropped the cut carrots into the pot.

'When should I tell everyone? I want to make it a surprise!' Bianca thought, but suddenly the front door slammed open to reveal a soaking wet Latias. "Latias? What's going- oh my god!" In her arms was a Greninja soaked in blood. She made a very desperate high pitched cry as tears were falling down her face. She looked down at the pokemon in her arms with panic covering her features. It was clear that she had no idea where to start when it came to something like this, so she brought the injured pokemon to the only place she could trust for help, Bianca and Lorenzo. "Grandpa, grab the medical kit and a healing potion now!"

"What are you talking about?" Lorenzo asked as he walked into the kitchen, but quickly ran out after seeing what was going on. "I'll be back in a second!" Bianca ran to the table and cleared it of anything that may be in the way.

"Put him on the table gently." Bianca ordered, the legendary dragon did so with extreme caution. Laying the wounded water pokemon onto the table ever so carefully. Once he was laying on the table, Bianca grabbed a cloth napkin and moved to the wound in its side. A completely soaked gauze was the only thing covering the open wound from spilling any more blood. Bianca attempted to lift up the Greninja's hand, but found that he held firm onto the wound. 'He must be subconsciously holding on in an attempt to save himself, but with that soaked gauze he won't last much longer.' Looking over at her best friend, Latias was in panic mode as she watched the bleeding pokemon like a hawk.

"Latias, I need you to lift up his hand so I can replace the gauze on his wound. Can you do that?" Seemingly snapped from her stupor, Latias moved to the pokemon's side and grabbed onto his hand.

"Please move your hand so we can replace the gauze with something a little better." Latias said in her native tongue, and to her surprise the arm clenching the wound relaxed just a little bit. Lifting up, Bianca removed the gauze and stared at the wound in shock and disgust. Before the legendary could see, the chocolate haired girl placed the napkin onto the wound and applied pressure.

"The bleeding is slowing, but we need that medical kit!" Bianca said, clearly agitated at how long it was taking her grandfather. Just as the words left her mouth the older man burst through the door holding a large wooden box. "Took your time!"

"Sorry, but I was looking for this!" Lorenzo grabbed a metal jar out of the box and tossed it to Bianca, who caught it and looked inside. There was a purple powder inside that had a very distinct smell to it. "Your grandmother was a very talented herbalist back in the day and that one there was made to help close open wounds. Mix it with this." Lorenzo then tossed another jar full of crimson red powder to Bianca. "That should help with blood loss. Mixing the two should do the trick!"

Never one to question her grandfather, Bianca poured some the red powder into the open wound then some of purple powder. Retrieving some cloth wrapping from the box, Bianca and Lorenzo tightly wrapped his midsection so the herbs could do their work undeterred. The two family members dropped back into two of the dining room chairs with a sigh, but then the sound of bubbling came to their ears.

"Oh no the soup!" Bianca exclaimed as she jumped up and turned off the stove. The bubbling stopped and the young girl sighed once more at what was going on. Looking over at her best friend, Bianca was about to give a good verbal lashing to the legendary only to find her staring at the wounded pokemon, concern covering her features. Walking over to her friend, Bianca placed a hand onto her cheek, making the Latias turn to the girl. "You did a good thing bringing him here. He should be fine after his wound heals."

Latias stared at the girl for another moment before looking back to the Greninja on the table. It was clear to Bianca and Lorenzo that she was scared, maybe even _terrified,_ of the thought of another pokemon dying. The death of Latios still haunted her to this day, and this must have been a reminder of that time when he gave up his life to save not only Altomere, but his sister as well.

"Come on, lets set him up in the spare room so he can sleep a little more comfortably." Bianca said as she went to pick him up, but only for the Latias to carefully pick him instead. She began floating up the stairs towards the spare room, followed by Bianca soon afterwards. "I'll see to it that he gets settled in. Could you clean things up here?"

"Don't worry, I'll take care of this." Lorenzo said, still a bit of confusion on his face. What in the world just happened?

Laying the Greninja onto the bed, Latias hovered next to the bed, staring at the unconscious pokemon with worry. Why did she care so much for this pokemon's safety? She was the Guardian of Altomere! She worried about everyone's safety! But this one was different and the color of his skin had little to do with that.

"Latias?" Bianca said from the door. She was worried as well, but not only for the Greninja that had a large wound in his side. "What happened that would put this Greninja in such a serious condition?"

The eon dragon didn't respond to the question at first because, honestly, she didn't know. How would a pokemon like this get hurt in such a fashion? The Greninja was wild, that was certain, and to be hurt like that must have been from a battle with another pokemon. Shaking her head of any thought, she frowned before turning to Bianca and saying, "I don't know."

Even if the girl couldn't understand the various forms of coo's exactly, Bianca got the jest of what was she meant. "I see… well it's best if we leave him to rest for now." The eon dragon didn't move at first, only staring at the black frog intently. Bianca sighed and walked over to the dragon. "Come on. Staring at him won't make him heal any faster. Besides, there are others out there that are waiting for your return."

'I do need to return to the garden. I'm sure they're getting worried.' Latias thought. Nodding her head she made her way to the door, but not before looking over at the Greninja one last time.

"Don't worry, I'll keep a good eye on him." Bianca said with a smile. And with that, the legendary pokemon left the room.

 **XxXxX**

Itachi rarely had dreams, or if he did he never remembered them. It was probably a defense mechanism to protect the Uchiha from remembering the terrible things that he's done over the course of his life. People often dream of the things that are at the forefront of their minds, and there are only a few things that Itachi remember more vividly than others. All of the mistakes or awful things he's done to others. Sure, he did them in order to protect the village that he so dearly loved, but that does not change the fact that his actions were inherently bad.

When the Shinigami told him that he had done well in his past life, initially Itachi was shocked. After all he had done, it was seen as a _good_ thing? The Uchiha couldn't believe that all the mistakes he had made could ever be seen as something good or justified. If anything he should be burning in the deepest part of hell right now. So why was he here then? To protect his little brother. That would be the only reason why he would be going through this endeavor in the first place.

Feeling his eyes begin to move, and his memory grind to a slow start, Itachi was now staring at a wooden ceiling. How he got here, and what happened to him after he fell unconscious, remained a mystery to him. The last thing he remembered was a white and red dragon like pokemon talking to him. Whoever she was must have saved him from inevitably bleeding out because here he was, laying on a comfortable bed inside a nice house. Lifting up the covers, Itachi examined his wound only to see it cleanly wrapped and covered from view.

Deciding to leave the wrappings where they were, the Greninja lifted his body up and stood from the bed. His muscles were sore from laying still for so long, but he barely felt anything from the wound in his side. Finally finding his feet, Itachi looked about the room and saw that there was a large amount of boxes stacked up to the ceiling. It wasn't a medical facility that he was brought to, he could be certain of that. So, where was he? A spare room was fairly obvious in his eyes, but that didn't tell him much. The window was open and a nice cool breeze filled the room with much needed fresh air. Water could be heard gently licking the side of bricks and wood outside.

Walking over to the window, Itachi glanced around outside and saw an older man below carrying some wood towards a large shed. Not finding any reason to disturb the man, the quiet Uchiha made his way to the desk and looked at the contents on top. Old business transactions, several letters from family members, but one very distinct letter stood out from the rest. Picking it up, Itachi scanned its contents for information, but placed it back down when it held nothing of value. It was then that the door behind him slowly opened. Turning, Itachi was met with a brown haired girl wearing a green shirt and white skirt. In her hands was a tray with a plate of food and a cup of tea sitting on top.

The girl blinked several times as she simply stared at the black pokemon. Itachi didn't move either, deciding to wait and see what she would do first. She nearly dropped her tray when she jumped backwards into the hallway in surprise. "Y-You're awake!" The girl exclaimed, but Itachi never moved, simply deciding to watch her actions instead. Seemingly calming herself down after hyperventilating in the hallway, the girl took a nervous step into the room. "Sorry, it's just I wasn't expecting you to be awake so soon. Your wound was pretty bad when you were brought here."

" _Are you the one that healed me_?" Itachi asked, making the girl's eyes widen. If she was indeed the one that healed him from certain death then she should be trustworthy enough. After shrugging off her surprise, she nodded her head.

"Yeah… Grandpa, Latias, and I all helped in healing you." The girl said. Itachi nodded and then bowed deeply.

" _Thank you for saving me. I'm in your debt_."

"D-Don't worry about it! It was nothing, really!" The girl said, embarrassed by the sudden motion. She walked in and placed the trey of food onto the desk and turned to the now straightened Greninja.

" _You must be Bianca then_?"

"I am! How did you know?"

" _Some of the letters on the table included your name. I could only assume it was you_."

"Oh? Going through our private stuff now are you?" Bianca said with a sly grin, but she got no such embarrassed reaction out of the stoic Uchiha.

" _I needed to make sure you were trustworthy. Sorry_." Frowning, Bianca looked to his wound once more.

"Do you have a name?"

"… _Itachi._ "

"I see, Itachi. If you don't mind me asking, how did you get that wound anyway?"

" _I do mind you asking actually._ " Itachi said as a cold glare was sent to the girl, sending a shiver up her spine.

"S-Sorry. I didn't mean to intrude on something private." Not responding to her apology, she looked down to her food. Its warm steam coming up in a sweet aroma that would make anyone's mouth melt. "Are you hungry by chance? You've been in that bed for over two days." Right on cue, Bianca heard the belly of Itachi rumble.

" _You could say that, but I don't want to bother you anymore than I already have. I should really be-_." His words were cut short when he quickly found himself being dragged out of the room, the tray of food in the other hand of the girl.

"None sense! Let me treat you to one of the best breakfasts these hands have ever made!" Bianca exclaimed as the two disappeared into the hallway. Itachi barely had time to see the house before he was brought downstairs and sat down into one of the kitchen chairs. "Now sit there and let me cook up some fantastic food. Okay?" Not waiting for a reply, she moved over to the stove and placed a pot on top with a simply blissful look on her face.

Why did she trust him so easily? To her, he was a wild pokemon that happened to be brought to her house, injured and hurt. Itachi could easily attack her right now, and she would be helpless. Obviously he would never do that, as she was the one that took care of him while he was hurt, but this scenario could very easily happen if Itachi was another pokemon. Since coming to this world the Uchiha has met many people that would very quickly help another being without thinking of the consequences. It was nice to see, but it alarmed him as well. These people could be taken advantage of because of this kindness and used for twisted purposes.

"Ready! Let me know how you like it." Bianca said as she placed a plate of food in front of the wild pokemon. Deciding it was best to just eat the food instead of arguing, Itachi began devouring the food. "Whoa! You must have been hungry!" If what she said earlier was true, then he wouldn't have eaten food in over two days as well. As the last morsel of food went into his mouth, Itachi sighed in relief as the hunger in his stomach subsided. "Well…?"

Looking up at the brown haired girl, the Uchiha found that she was waiting for his thoughts on her cooking. " _Oh… it was fantastic. The eggs were a little underwhelming, but otherwise it was properly prepared and presented_." Bianca stared at Itachi in shock and awe. " _What_?"

"Do you know how to cook?"

" _Yes? Why?_ "

"I just didn't expect you to know is all. You don't seem like the type, if you know what I'm talking about." Bianca replied, a slight tint of red on her cheeks. Obviously she was motioning towards the fact that he was a pokemon.

'Yeah, I'm sure if anyone in Akatsuki knew about my hobby then they would have surely made my life a living hell.' Itachi thought.

"And what do you mean my eggs were underwhelming?! I thought they tasted perfect!" Bianca exclaimed.

" _They were extremely good, as you added the most important ingredient of all, but it was lacking something…_ " Itachi replied.

"What are they lacking?"

" _Repetition_."

 **XxXxX**

"Bianca! I finished my work for the day! Do you want to go down to the festival and…" Lorenzo said as he walked into the kitchen, only to see the black Greninja cooking over the stove with Bianca staring at him with a notepad. "What's going on?"

"Oh! Hey Grandpa! Itachi, I would like you to meet Lorenzo, my grandfather." Bianca said. The black Greninja turned and stared at the older man, making him stand stock still under his cold eyes before he nodded.

" _A pleasure to meet you Lorenzo_." Itachi said as he returned to making the eggs.

"I forgot to tell you, but Itachi here can use telepathy. Pretty cool huh?" Bianca said as she returned her vision to the stove. The older man simply stared at the two before shaking his head at the scene. He has been around legendary pokemon for a long time now, this was nothing compared to what he's seen in his years of living here.

"Nice to meet you as well." Sitting down at the table, he smiled at the scene. When Itachi was looking at him, his stare was that of cold, stoic, indifference, but when his gaze returned to the stove it softened ever so slightly. It was like he was doing something that made him truly happy in comparison to everything else.

"Sunny-side-up? It's certainly been a while since I've made it like that." Bianca said as she scribbled down more notes. Just as he raised the lid off the top, two pieces of bread jumped up from the toaster. Quickly placing the bread onto a plate, the Greninja skillfully put the egg on top of the toast. "It looks… normal?"

" _The best things in life are often in the simplest of packages_." Itachi said as he picked up the plate and brought it over to the table. Placing two forks onto the edges of the plate, Itachi took a step back as Bianca took a seat at the table. The two took their first bites of the food and then went wide eyed.

"This is the best egg I've ever had…" Bianca said as a bit of drool dripped out of the corner of her mouth.

"I haven't had something this good in fifteen years." Lorenzo said, taking another bite of the delicious egg. Itachi smiled softly at the scene before him as he began to subconsciously wash the pan that he had used. As a human or a pokemon, this one thing rang true, he was still Itachi Uchiha.

"Hey Gramps, what were you going to say when you came in earlier?" Bianca asked as she put the last bite of the food into her mouth.

"Oh! I was wondering if you wanted to head into the festival today. It was pretty wet yesterday, even though it was nice out, so I was wondering…" Lorenzo started.

"That sounds like an amazing idea. I'll go grab a few things upstairs then we can go." Bianca said as she walked up the stairs to her room.

"You can come along if you want. I think you'll have a lot of fun if you do." Lorenzo said as he poured himself a cup of tea. "The festival is a weeklong event starting last Friday and lasting for nine days. There's plenty to do and see if you're interested."

" _I don't think that's a good idea. Thank you for your hospitality, but I really should be moving on_." Itachi said as he walked to the table.

"For a wild pokemon you have incredible manners. Are you sure you don't have a trainer?" Lorenzo asked.

" _I'm fairly certain, but my beginnings are rather fuzzy_."

"What do you mean?" Lorenzo asked, now curious as to how this pokemon came into being. The Greninja before him was strange. The color wasn't normal, he had cooking experience, could use telepathy, and it was extremely well mannered for a wild pokemon. All signs pointed to it being under the ownership of a trainer, but clearly it wasn't if Itachi couldn't remember.

Before Itachi could respond, Bianca walked into the kitchen with a white hat atop her head and a white purse under her arm. "Ready Grandpa. You ready to go too?"

"I sure am. Lets go." Lorenzo said as he moved to the door.

"You should come with us Itachi! It's going to be tons of fun, and we'll have even more fun if you tag along." Bianca said with a smile.

" _I think I'm going to be leaving now. Thank you for everything you've done, but I must be going now._ " Itachi said as he extended a hand out to the girl.

"But you've only just woken up." Bianca said with a frown.

" _I know, but I've taken up too much of your time as it is. Have fun at the festival, Bianca._ " Itachi said with a soft smile. The girl looked down to the hand extended out to her, but quickly hugged the Greninja instead, making said pokemon go wide-eyed.

"There's always an open room here if you're ever in town. Don't you _dare_ be afraid to stop in and say hi." Bianca said, tightening her grip on the pokemon. Itachi nodded slightly at her words before returning her hug.

" _I will. I promise_." Itachi said, making the girl nod into his shoulder.

"Good." Releasing the Greninja from her grasp she then smiled, but it was clear that she was saddened by his quick departure. "Hope to see you again soon Itachi."

" _Goodbye_." Itachi replied before walking past the girl and to the door. " _Take care_."

"You do the same." Lorenzo replied, opening the door for the Greninja as he walked out into the empty road. Looking over his shoulder, Itachi smiled softly before disappearing from the cusp of the doorway.

 **XxXxX**

Feeling refreshed, Itachi ran up the side of a building and flipped onto a television cable. He felt great and his wound was no longer giving him any trouble at all. Whatever Bianca and Lorenzo did, it certainly worked. Removing the wrappings from around his midsection, there was only a small scar left behind as a token reminder of what had happened. Looking out across the city, Itachi set his sights on a massive building with a green dome covering the top. It was the tallest building in the city, save for the light houses that were sprinkled around the edges of the city.

Kicking off from the pole, Itachi landed onto the building next to it and, with a roll once he hit the building, the Uchiha began dashing and jumping from building to building. 'This body is extremely light and agile. If the information on Oak's computer is to believed, Greninja's are inherently swift and quiet, but at the cost of physical endurance. Meaning if I'm hit several times by a stronger enemy then I'll be knocked out fairly quickly.' Itachi thought as he moved through some white sheets that had been hung up to dry. Pushing his body even further, the Uchiha bobbed and weaved his way through the maze of sheets, trying his best not to touch the white cloth as they fluttered in the wind.

Sliding underneath the last sheet, Itachi front flipped over the railing using his hand while doing so on said railing to give him some direction before flying over a smaller canal and onto a smaller building on the opposite side.

It was now that the stoic Uchiha found himself truly smiling without having to hold back. The wind that passed by his body, the adrenalin coursing through his veins, the beautiful sun beating down onto this gorgeous city, the vibrant life from the festival that took hold of everyone living and visiting, all accumulated into something that Itachi couldn't describe with words.

Stopping at the edge of a three story building, Itachi looked out over a courtyard that sat between a large canal and the large dome topped building he saw earlier. The courtyard was packed with people and vending stands alike. Not wanting to stop his momentum, the Greninja jumped off the side of the building and bounced off a canopy towards the canal. Seeing an opportunity to not drop into the water, Itachi landed on the top of a smaller motor boat, making said boat wobbled somewhat. The man that was inside its bridge was opening the door to see what was going on when the Greninja leap to a gondola that happened to be passing by.

"What in the world?!" The man steering the boat exclaimed as the black Greninja leaped off the boat towards the courtyard, making the man hold onto his boat in fear of falling overboard as said gondola nearly capsized.

Keeping his feet moving at a brisk pace, Itachi disappeared into the crowd of people, but during the mix transformed into a human while weaving through the thick crowd of people. To the average eye, a person would see a boy with a jacket parkouring through the crowd without ever touching another person, but to two purple haired twin girls, they saw something completely different.

Itachi broke through the crowd of people before looking up at the top of the building, as if analyzing the best route to the top. Deciding that there must be a better route on the opposite side, Itachi took a deep breath and began running around the side of the building. Finally finding a good place to start climbing, the Uchiha began jumping and swinging from ledge to ledge, windowsill to windowsill until finally coming to the large dome. Calmly walking along the tiny ledge that lined the side of the dome, Itachi found a ladder in the form of bars built into the curvature of the sloped dome.

With one last push, the Greninja quickly found himself leaning against the flag pole atop the massive building. He could see everything from coast to coast. 'So this is indeed an island. From the looks of it the city itself is floating atop the water.' Letting the cool breeze press against him, a cloud passed over the sun, and with it Itachi's illusion disappeared. The shade was welcomed, but the change in light made the cautious Greninja see two floating figures right in front of him.

"You dragons like to stay invisible, don't you?" Itachi said aloud. After a second of nothing happening, Itachi was about to become defensive when one of the dragons started to say something.

"W-What should we do?" One of the two dragons whispered. "Dad says that if we're ever discovered then when should run!"

"But isn't he the one…?" The other invisible dragon began to ask in the same whispered tone.

"Latias did say something about a black Greninja." The first invisible dragon stated before moving closer to Itachi, who raised an eyebrow in question. "Could this be the Greninja she was talking about?"

"Don't get so close Emilia! He looks scary!"

'Did they forget that they were invisible?' Itachi thought.

"Oh please Hannah. Quit being such a baby." Emilia said.

"Why are you two still invisible?" Itachi asked, clearly confused at what was going on.

"I'm going to try and talk to him." Emilia said as a red and white dragon flickered to life in front of Itachi. She was smaller than the Latias Itachi had met before, meaning this one was probably younger. One thing that did stand out was the purple feathers that grew around her left eye.

"Wait! Emilia what are you doing?!" Hannah whispered.

"We never get to speak to others Hannah. Especially one that looks like him!" Emilia said to the other dragon. The young dragon then turned to Itachi and smiled. "Sorry about that. My name is Emilia! Would you like to play with me?"

"Come on now! That's not how you introduce yourself!" Hannah exclaimed as she became visible as well. She looked exactly like Emilia except the purple feathers were around the right eye. "You introduce yourself like this." The eon dragon then turned to Itachi and bowed deeply. "My name is Hannah. What is your name mister?"

Itachi looked between the two and sighed. These two were clearly twin sisters; that much could be easily discerned. "My name is Itachi."

"What a weird name." Emilia said, but then received a slap across the back of her head. "Hey! What did I do?"

"Don't be so rude. We've only just met him." Hannah said with an audible 'humph'.

"Did you two need something?" Itachi asked.

"Well, we saw you running through that crowd of people earlier and thought you were pretty good." Emilia said, getting a nod from Hannah as well. "And we thought… well… maybe you'd like to play with us."

"Why would you want me to play with you? Aren't there other pokemon that are like you that'd like to play?" Itachi asked.

"There are only four of us living here. Latias is always busy with being the 'Guardian of Altomare' or else she absolutely would, and dad is trying to learn everything he needs to know about the city before he can start helping Latias with guarding the city." Hannah explained. "So we are often left to play with each other."

"What about the other pokemon around the city? Why not ask them?" Itachi pressed. Why him? What was with these feathered dragons that seemed to draw them to him?

"Because they see us as 'powerful legendary' pokemon that should be respected above all else. Besides, the ones that do play with us are too slow, but you…" Hannah said as she looked over the Greninja. "You're pretty quick from what I saw."

"Umm…" Itachi said as he looked behind him, planning an escape route if need be.

"Would you _please_ play with us? We're so bored!" Emilia said as she moved closer to the nervous pokemon.

"I've… got to go." Itachi said suddenly as he turned and began sliding down the side of the dome.

"Oh! I love playing tag! Lets go Hannah!" Emilia shouted, excitement in her voice as she darted after the fleeing Greninja.

"Wait for me!" Hannah said as she followed her sister. Looking over his shoulder, Itachi noticed that he would need not only speed to not be caught by the two legendary pokemon, but his wits as well. Just as he came to the bottom of the dome, Itachi kicked off to the side and flew down towards a flag pole that was protruded out from the side of the building. Just as he did this Emilia shot past him, narrowly missing him.

"Darn it! Almost had him!" Emilia shouted with an excited smile. Itachi flung himself down to the alley that sat behind the massive building. Landing onto the ground, the Uchiha made a quick break towards the end of the alley, but came to a sliding halt when Hannah hovered down to block his path.

"Where do you think you're going?" Hannah asked with a victorious grin.

"Looks like you're trapped." Emilia said as she came hovering down behind the black Greninja. "It was fun while it lasted I suppose."

"It's just I expect more out of you from the way you moved before." Hannah stated, but then shrugged a bit. "I guess we win though so yay us!"

"So you think you've won?" Itachi asked as a small grin played upon his lips from behind his scarf, making the two Latias's look at each other in confusion. "You two have a lot to learn when it comes to catching a target."

"'Catching a target'? What are you talking about? We've got you trapped!" Emilia exclaimed.

"Lesson one. Never assume you've caught someone until they're in your hands." Itachi said before his body turned to black smoke and evaporating into the air around him.

"Wait, how?!" Emilia exclaimed in shock as she quickly hovered over to the spot where Itachi was once standing.

"An illusion?" Hannah said to herself. "He was able to transform into a human before so this isn't all that surprising."

"Are Geninja normally able to do that?" Emilia asked.

"I've never met a Greninja before so maybe, but you know what this means…" Hannah said with an excited look on her features.

"Oh, I know exactly what you're thinking." Emilia replied with a look of excitement of her own.

 **XxXxX**

'That was interesting.' Itachi thought as he walked down a street next to a small canal with his human illusion covering himself. 'So those dragon pokemon are legendries. Being a legendary must mean they're powerful.' Turning down another street with a lot of stalls on it, Itachi decided to look at the vendors to see what they were selling, but found himself disappointed. Not in the items themselves. No, they were all fantastic in quality and quantity, but rather he found himself lacking money to spend. Festivals have always been one of Itachi's interests. Not so much for the crowds, because he hated those, but for the different types of food one can try. People from all over tend to bring their recipes to festivals in hopes of either winning a prize, or just making a profit.

One such fish dish looked extremely delicious, but without money there was no point in even considering the notion. Sighing deeply, Itachi turned away from the stand and continued on his way, but stopped when a familiar face walked by. Looking over his shoulder, the green shirt and white skirt was a clear sign that it was indeed who he thought it was. The girl stopped as well, but instead of looking over her shoulder, she fully turned around. Something was off about her, but Itachi couldn't exactly put his finger on it.

" _Bi-_." Itachi started to say, but stopped when he spotted two twin sisters behind her. They had purple hair with a blue streak that covered a different eye for each girl. One wore a white one piece dress while the other wore jean shorts with an orange tank top. For some reason Itachi felt a sense of dread fall over him as those two girls rounded the corner.

"There he is!" The girl in the orange shirt shouted, but to anyone else that cared to listen it was a series of high pitched coos. Most people just glanced at her like she was crazy and went about their day like nothing had happened.

'Oh shit.' Was Itachi's only thought as he turned to begin running, but before he could get anywhere Bianca grabbed onto his hand and began pulling him away. 'What's going on?!' As the two ran down alleyway after alleyway. Eventually the stoic Uchiha had lost track of where they were. Itachi soon found himself in front of a large brick wall with large vines growing out from the hanging pots. Looking to Bianca for answers, she only smiled and ran into the wall. Disappearing from sight. 'An illusion? What's that doing here?' Seeing no reason why he shouldn't follow, Itachi took his first step through the wall.

Once he was completely through the wall, the stoic Uchiha came face to face with the Latias that he had first met when he came to Altomare. She stared at the cloaked Uchiha with a curious expression adorning her features before smiling brightly and hugging him in a rib crushing hug. "I'm so happy you're alive! Thank Arceus!" The pokemon twirled in the air while crushing the Greninja within her bone crushing hold. The hug broke the illusion that Itachi had over himself, making him turn back into his pokemon form.

"Latias, I think you're hurting him." A voice said from underneath them. The Latias looked down at the pokemon in her arms and, in a panic, released him from the hug.

"I'm sorry!" But to her surprise they had floated high into the air. She quickly went to catch Itachi, only for the Greninja to land onto a blue and white dragon.

'A blue and white dragon?' Itachi thought as he looked over at the head of the Latios that had caught him.

"Hello there Greninja. You must be the one that young Latias here has been talking about over the last couple of days." The Latios said with a smile of his own.

"Sorry about that." Latias said as she floated down next to the Latios with an embarrassed look. "I was just so happy to see you awake that I kind of just dragged you here without thinking. Thanks for catching him Otto."

"You're very welcome." Otto said as they hovered down to the ground, where Itachi hopped off to the grass below. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, thank you." Itachi said as he brushed himself off.

"If you don't mind me asking, what is your name?" Otto asked.

"Itachi." Just as he responded, a claw tapped him on the shoulder, making him turn around to see Latias looking down and very embarrassed.

"Sorry for dropping you like that." Latias said. Normally, Itachi would simply shake his head and not respond to what was said, but this situation was different. The Greninja remembered that this was the pokemon that helped save him from death just two days prior.

Latias expected a cold look as her only response, just like she received when she first met him, but to her surprise the Greninja smiled softly. "No harm done." Not able to contain herself, Latias happily pressed her head against the Greninja, who, very cautiously, rubbed the side of her head.

"I went by to check on you earlier, but when I arrived you weren't in your bed." Latias said. "I thought maybe you had left without saying anything."

"I was planning on leaving…" Itachi said as he looked to the passageway behind him. "But then I met two other Latias's before I made it out of the city."

"Oh! You must talking about the two girls from before. That was Emilia and Hannah, my cousins." Latias said as she moved away from the Greninja. "Why were they chasing you by the way?"

"Chasing him? Did you do something to my daughters?" Otto said as he eyed Itachi suspiciously.

"I didn't do anything to them besides run away." Itachi stated with a sigh. He must be the father of the two twins in question. And Latias here must be related to the three in some way as well. "They said that they wanted to play with me."

"They must think you're playing a game of tag!" Latias said before giggling at the situation that the Greninja found himself in. "They love to play games and often try to find others to join them."

"I see what's going on here. Emilia and Hannah are very serious about tag and feel it as a contest. The only one to ever beat them is Latias here." Otto said, making the eon dragon blush from embarrassment.

"And I would play with them more often, but I've been pretty busy lately." Latias said with a slight frown.

"The twins said you were the 'Guardian of Altomare'. What does that mean?" Itachi asked.

"It means that I'm entrusted with the protection of the Soul Dew." Latias explained as Itachi followed the red and white dragon up to a small fountain. A stone sat atop a metal fixture within the water, giving off a warm glow that made the Greninja feel at ease.

"Are you sure this is a good idea, Latias? Telling someone else about the Soul Dew?" Otto asked.

"Why wouldn't I trust him?" Latias replied, a little bit of irritation in her voice.

"How long have you known him for? How do we know if he's trustworthy enough with this kind of precious information?" Otto argued.

"Because when I talked to him before he seemed like the person that can keep a secret." Latias was getting even more frustrated with the Latios as Itachi simply watched the two in their exchange. Was the purpose of this rock really that important?

"But this isn't just any secret. It's the very reason why there must be someone guarding it at all times. If you go telling every pokemon you meet that you feel can keep a secret then eventually this information could fall into the wrong hands." Otto replied with frown. "You remember what happened last time that happened, right?"

"I don't need to be reminded of that!" Latias shouted as she looked away, tears in her eyes. "You know I don't…" Sensing the unease of the situation, Itachi sighed and looked to the exit. Why was he even here? The insatiable urge to move west was still tugging at his body like a dog drawn back to his home. There was also that man that wasn't too fond of him. If whatever that group was has found out he was here then he would be putting everyone here in danger. Something that he didn't want to do.

"If this is causing you both to become upset then maybe I should leave." Itachi said as he began walking away. "It was nice meeting the one that saved my life before I left the city. I owe you a debt that cannot be easily repaid."

"Wait! Where are you going?" Latias asked as she floated behind the Greninja as he walked through the garden.

"I'm not sure, but I know I'm leaving Altomare." Itachi responded before stopping and looking back at the Latias. She looked shocked and extremely sad at his words, but the Uchiha shook his head and continued walking. Latias would eventually forget about him and move on with her life. Maybe one day Itachi would be able to repay his debt to the legendary, but now was not the time to do so. "Take good care of her Otto. If she is truly the 'Guardian of Altomare' then she'll need all the support she can get." The Latios frowned, but nodded his head at the Greninja's words from behind his niece.

Itachi nodded and neared the exit when two Latias's came in through the door. "How did we lose him?!" Emilia asked her twin as they slowly flew into the garden.

"He sure is a slippery one, that's for sure." Hannah replied.

"It's all because of Latias! If she wouldn't have guided him away from us then we would have caught him for…" Emilia said, but slowed her rant when she saw the black Greninja walking towards them. "It's him!"

"We've got you now!" Hannah exclaimed as the two dashed towards him, but slowed their charge when they neared him. "Aren't you going to run? Or dodge?" Itachi didn't say anything as he silently walked past the two Latias. "Anything?"

Stopping at the exit, Itachi glanced at the two and smiled softly. "Maybe we can finish our game another time, but I've got to leave for now."

"Leaving? Like leaving Altomare?" Hannah asked, disappointment in her voice.

"But you're the only one besides Latias that stands a chance at beating us in tag!" Emilia exclaimed. Itachi didn't respond as he took a step into the illusion covered entrance. "Oh no you don't!" Dashing towards Itachi as he fully disappeared through the doorway, Emilia came tumbling out the other side only to find that the small courtyard was void of any and all life. Growling at the Greninja's sudden disappearance, Emilia went back through the illusion to find that Hannah was over by Latias with Otto floating a little ways away. "What in the world happened? I thought you two were friends from the way you grabbed him and started running!"

"Friends…?" Latias asked out loud. Was that what they were? Yes, she did save him, but they don't really know much of anything about each other. The Greninja did let her drag him across Altomare, but that wasn't really a large sign of trust, or much of a bonding experience either. Now that Latias really thought about it, she knows next to nothing about Itachi other than he was probably from the Kalos region.

"Yes, friends. Isn't he your friend?" Hannah asked. "I mean you did bring him to the Secret Garden. So we only assumed…"

Latias laughed sadly as her thoughts came together. Itachi seemed closed off and in trouble when she first met him and that's what initially drew her to the water pokemon. Well, being injured and the want to save him also played a role, but his personality kept her curious. All she wanted to do was learn more about the mysterious Greninja, but in the end he learned more about her then the other way around. "I guess we aren't friends. I don't really know anything about him and never really tried to learn anything either."

"So? What does that have to do with anything?" Emilia asked as she got into her face.

"Huh?" Latias said with a bit of shock.

"That's why you talk to him and learn about each other. It's what being friends is all about!" Hannah said as she moved next to her sister. "Don't you want to learn more about him?"

"Of course I do!" Latias replied eagerly.

"Then go find him!" Emilia exclaimed.

"But he's leaving Altomare. Why should I stop him from leaving?" Latias asked.

"Latias, when was the last time you made a friend?" Otto said, speaking up for the first time. "And you can't say us because we're family. We've always been there for you."

Thinking, Latias looked down in shame. "Ash and Pikachu…"

"Right, you owe it to yourself to make another friend." Otto said as he moved over to her as well. "Go find him and talk to him."

"But what should I say? He's so quiet and distant." Latias said.

"You'll think of something." Otto replied with a reassuring smile. Latias nodded and, with a deep breath, darted out of the garden in search of the black Greninja. Once she was gone, the two twins turned to their father in question.

"What happened anyway?" Hannah asked, turning to her father.

"We had a little argument over whether we should tell Itachi about the details of the Soul Dew." Otto replied with a sigh. "I guess Itachi thought by him being here it was making us upset and decided to leave. He may not seem it, but deep down he's a caring fellow."

"Oh…" Hannah said as the two twins looked to the exit of the garden.

"I hope Latias can convince him to stay here for a while." Emilia said.

"Me too. He was a lot of fun to play with… even if it was more hide and seek rather than tag." Hannah said with an audible 'humph', making their father laugh.

"Finally met your match?" Otto asked.

"No way! Once Latias brings Itachi back then we'll show you who's better!" Emilia exclaimed while her sister nodded at her words.

" _If_ she brings him back." Otto said as he too looked to the door.

 **XxXxX**

'Looks like I'm here.' Itachi thought as he stood at the end of a pier that was jutting out into the deep blue sea. He was transformed into his human illusion so nobody would notice, but there wasn't anybody around besides the passing of small ships and boats. The sun was about to set and the world around him was blanketed in a soft orange tint. 'A transport ship should pass by here soon and when it does I'll swim over and climb on.' Looking back to the city, he smiled softly. 'The people and pokemon here have been kind to me. I can only hope that one day I can return that kindness.' A loud blaring of a deep horn caught his attention. The boat was about to set sail soon, maybe in a couple of minutes if Itachi had to guess.

"Found you." A voice said from behind him. Turning, Itachi found Bianca, or more accurately Latias standing at the base of the pier as a human. The Uchiha stared back at the pokemon/girl in relative confusion.

Deciding to play along with it, Itachi nodded his head at the answer. "Here I am."

"You know, this pier is very special to a friend of mine. Want to know why?" Latias said as she slowly walked down the pier. Not getting an answer, Latias took the silence as a sign to move forward with her story. "It was the place that she gave someone her first kiss. She gave it to a guy who helped save our city from certain destruction." Latias stopped at the middle of pier and turned to the side, looking out over the large canal that served as Altomare's main entrance and exit. "I would later learn that this boy was very important to the world and had helped many others throughout his journey. Looks like my friend chose right, didn't she?"

"I suppose she did." Itachi replied. Latias sighed and looked up into the air, trying to think of what to say next. Why was it so hard to talk to him? Sure, he looked intimidating, but that wasn't all. She was stumbling on her thoughts every time she went to speak. Words would appear in her head, but as she went to voice them they would simply disappear from her throat. "Latias, why did you come here?"

"Umm…" She was stuttering on her words, but the loud horn of the boat rang throughout the area once more. "I…"

"When that boat passes I will be leaving. Was there anything else?" Itachi asked. Drawing all her thoughts into one sentence, the Latias turned to Itachi.

"Do you see us as friends?"

Itachi stared at her for the longest time. Friends? It has been a long time since he could say he had a friend. Kisame wasn't really a friend, more of just a traveling companion like Sarah and Alec. Shisui was the last person he could call a true friend, but he was killed trying to accomplish the same thing he was trying to do. To be honest he wasn't very good at making friends, or even keeping his own. His entire life was that of killing others and keeping his distance, something he has excelled at. In this life, it would seem, that experience was only crippling him.

"No." Itachi replied as the boat began to slowly pass the crest of the building. "But I believe if we had more time then we possibly could have been."

"Oh." Latias said as about half of the boat came into view.

"Take care of yourself, Latias. Thanks again for saving me." Itachi said, but she was simply looking down, her hair covering her eyes from view. Smiling sadly, Itachi moved over to the legendary and poked her on the forehead with two of his fingers. Making her look up at him with misty eyes. "Goodbye."

Itachi went to jump into the water, but just as he went to jump a hand wrapped around his wrist. Looking down to his wrist, Itachi found that Latias had latched onto said appendage. "Y-you said that you owed me a d-debt, right?" Nodding his head, the Greninja stared at the pokemon as she spoke between sobs. Why was she crying?

"For saving my life, but it will have to be-." Before Itachi could say another thing he was slammed into the pier, breaking his illusion that he had over himself. Latias had forgone her own human appearance as well and pinned the water pokemon to the pier. Looking up at the legendary, Itachi was both confused and shocked at what was going on. "Latias?"

"You can repay that debt right now." Latias said. The boat was nearing the end of the pier and Itachi was losing his chance to leave.

"… how?" Itachi asked as he looked up at the legendary, but to his surprise she was no longer crying.

"I want you to stay here, with us… with me." Latias said in almost a whisper. Itachi stared up at the pokemon in shock.

"Stay? But why? You barely know me." Itachi said, but this only caused the Latias to shake her head.

"That's why I want you to stay. So we can learn more about each other and maybe, one day, be friends." Latias said, tightening her grip around Itachi's arms. "Just stay here for a little while longer. Please."

She was almost begging at this point, and her body was trembling at his every facial feature. He did owe her a debt, but could he really just stay here for a while? He was tasked with exploring this world, but…

"I guess I've got no choice." Itachi finally said with a soft sigh, making the eon dragon above him brighten up considerably. "The boat is already long gone and I do owe the 'Guardian of Altomare' a debt. It's the least I can do for someone that has saved my life."

"Yes! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Latias exclaimed as she picked up the Greninja and twirled in the air, getting a chuckle from the water pokemon. "Lets go back and tell the others!" The two landed on the ground and simultaneously changed back into their human forms only this time Itachi's hood was off.

"You go on ahead. I'll meet you later." Itachi said with a soft smile.

"What are you going to do?" Latias asked.

"I just need to check on a few things first." Itachi said, but Latias was giving him a look of suspicion.

"You're not gonna try and leave, are you?" The legendary asked, but only received a poke on her forehead like before. "Hey!"

"I said I'd meet up with you later, didn't I?" Itachi said as he walked past the legendary.

"How will I find you?" Latias asked as the Greninja neared the end of the pier.

"Just ask the twins. They'll tell you."

 **XxXxX**

"What a fun day!" Bianca said as she opened the door to her home. "Thanks for inviting me Grandpa."

"Thanks for coming with me. I had no idea that you were that good at grabbing apples with your mouth." Lorenzo said with a sly grin.

"H-Hey! What's that supposed to mean?!" Bianca asked, her face turning completely red.

"Don't worry about it. You'll learn one day." Lorenzo said with a laugh. The girl puffed out her cheeks and looked around the building.

"I guess he's not coming back." Bianca said, a sad smile playing upon her lips.

"Guess not, but it's probably for the best. He was a wild pokemon after all." Lorenzo said.

"I know, but I was kind of hoping he'd come back. It was fun having him around, you know?" Bianca replied as she hung her purse around the back of one of the kitchen table chairs.

"He was a quiet soul, but full of compassion." Lorenzo commented.

"Guess I can get started on dinner." Bianca said.

" _Mind if I help_?" A voice asked from the door.

"Of course not. I always appreciate the- Itachi?!" Bianca suddenly turned around to see a black haired boy leaning against the doorframe. "Itachi?"

" _This must be the first time you've seen me when I'm like this._ " Itachi said as he moved into the house, the visage of the boy melting away until he was the black and red Greninja that they knew. " _Is this better?_ "

"It is you!" Bianca then ran over to the pokemon and enveloped him in a tight hug. "Welcome back!"

" _Thank you._ " Itachi replied as he hugged the girl back. " _Nice to see you too Lorenzo_." Itachi said after releasing the girl from the hug, getting a smile and nod from the older man.

"Since you're here I assume that you're going to be staying for another night?" The older man asked.

" _That's actually what I wanted to talk about. From the looks of things I may be staying for an even longer period of time then I originally thought._ " Itachi replied.

"And you don't have a place to stay, do you?" Lorenzo said, getting a nod from the pokemon.

"Then he can stay here with us." Bianca said, making the older man sigh.

"While I'm fine with him staying with us, how long are we talking about here?" Lorenzo asked.

" _I'm not sure._ " Itachi replied. " _If it's an inconvenience for you in any way then I can go elsewhere._ "

"No it's fine for you stay here, right Gramps?" Bianca said with a glare.

"I said that I was okay with it, but he has to pitch in around the house." Lorenzo said.

"Then it's a deal! Itachi stays here with us." Bianca said as she grabbed onto his wrist and pulled him over to the counter top. "Now, we were just talking about what to eat. Any suggestions?"

Lorenzo chuckled at the scene and leaned back into his chair. It's certainly been a while since he saw his granddaughter become this excited.

 **XxXxX**

"I wonder where Latias is at?" Emilia asked as she swung on the swing.

"Probably still looking for Itachi if I had to guess." Hannah responded as she swam around the pool in front of the swing. "But if she hasn't found him by now then he's probably already left."

"Don't say that! I'm sure she's found him." Emilia said. 'But it's already dark outside. Finding him now…'

"It's time for bed kids." Otto said as he hovered over to the two young Latias.

"What about Latias? She still hasn't come back yet." Emilia said.

"She's a big girl. She'll be fine." Otto said as he ushered them towards the back of the garden where they have been sleeping.

"But we want to wait for Latias!" Hannah said as she flew up into the air.

"I understand how you feel, but bed time is bed time. We can learn what happened in the morning." Otto said, but before he could move to push her towards the sleeping quarters, Latias came floating into the garden. "Latias?"

"Latias is back!" Emilia exclaimed with excitement before flying over to her fellow legendary. "So, did you find him? Where is he? Did you two kiss?!"

"K-kiss?!" Latias exclaimed as she reeled back from the question, her face a bright crimson red. "We didn't k-kiss!"

"Emilia, stop messing with the poor girl." Otto said as he floated over, making her pout. "But you did find him, yes?"

"I did." Latias replied with a smile.

"Come on! What did he say?" Hannah asked with excitement.

"Itachi said he'll stay for a little while longer." This made the two sisters come together in a hug.

"Yay! Now we have a chance to beat him in tag!" The two twins exclaimed with excitement.

"Was that the only reason you wanted him to stay?" Otto asked.

"Well, not the only reason. He's really nice, even if he's a straight to the point kind of guy." Emilia said as she put a claw to her chin.

"He did run away from us when we first met though." Hannah reminded her sister.

"I know, but he also didn't complain when we gave chase. If anything I bet he enjoyed it." Emilia replied.

"That's true. When we managed to corner him in the alley, he did teach us a little bit about the game… I think." Hannah conceded.

"Did he say where he was going to be living?" Otto asked.

"No, but he did say he wanted to meet up later on this evening." Latias said, but then sighed. "But he didn't tell me where."

"He didn't tell you anything at all?" Otto asked in confusion.

"Well… he said that you two would know where he'd be. What did he mean by that?" Latias asked as she looked to the twins.

"Would he mean where we first met him?" Hannah asked.

"Probably. That's the only place I can think of." Emilia stated.

"Where did you meet him?" Latias asked.

"We'll tell you on one condition." Emilia said.

"A condition? What is it?"

 **XxXxX**

Itachi leaned against the flag pole atop the massive dome where he had originally met Emilia and Hannah earlier that day. The fresh sea breeze pressed against his body, sending a small, but welcomed, shiver up his spine. This made the Greninja pull up his scarf to cover his mouth from the breeze. 'It's certainly been a crazy day.' The festival below was slowing down for the night, but Itachi was sure that it would be going strong in the morning. 'Looks like this city is my city for the time being.' Sensing something coming towards him, Itachi only grinned beneath his scarf as the presence of three figures came to Itachi's senses.

"So the young ones decided to come?" Itachi asked as the three eon dragons became visible.

"I was going to be the only one, but it was one of their conditions for them to tell me where they met you." Latias said with a sigh.

"Conditions? What conditions?" Itachi asked. How many conditions were there?

"One of them was to let them come with me to meet you." Latias repeated.

"And another one is that she can't hog you all to herself." Emilia said with a victorious look about her face. Itachi looked to Latias, who only shrugged in confusion.

"What my sister here is trying to say," Hannah said, "is that we want to play with you while you're staying here."

"That's right! It's only fair that we get to spend time with you too!" Emilia exclaimed.

"It's not really a condition…" Itachi said with a sigh.

"Not a condition? What do you mean?" Emilia asked, making the Greninja shake his head. He knew that staying here would mean that the two energetic Latias would want to play. From what the Greninja could tell, most Latias are good natured and full of life. Something that he secretly admired about them.

"Don't worry about it." Itachi stated as he looked up into the star filled sky. Maybe he could be friends with these legendary dragons, if they were willing to have him as one.

 **XxXxX**

"Agent 04 is… dead?" A man asked in pure shock as he looked at the message on his massive terminal. The others in the room either looked down at their keyboards in sadness or stared blankly into the air. "Is Agent 08 still okay?"

"From what our surveillance team has learned Agent 08 is alive, but is currently being held custody by the police force in Cherrygrove." Another man said as he read another message on his much smaller terminal screen.

"He was one of the best men under my command!" The first man exclaimed as he slammed his clenched fists into the metal railing next to him, bending it from the impact. "How in the world was he killed?!"

"From what we can tell it was from an explosion, sir." The second man replied, flinching as his commander ripped out the metal railing and speared it into the ground.

"An explosion?! Find the cause of this, NOW!" The commander shouted at the top his lungs.

"Sir, yes sir! We'll learn the truth once we can return Agent 08!" The subordinate replied with a salute. Making the commander nod and return his attention to the screen in front of him.

'Those two were tasked with eliminating that little failed experiment before the Rockets found it, but…' The man grinned as a thought passed through his head. 'If it managed to escape Agent 04 and Agent 08 then it may not be a failure after all.' Pressing a few keys on his keyboard, an image of the black and crimson Greninja appeared on screen. A large red X was crossed through it, and the word 'scuttled' sat underneath its portrait. Pressing another key, the red marked portrait replaced its color with blue and the 'X' was replaced with a '?'. 'Maybe killing it isn't the right path after all…'

 **XxXxX**

 **AN:** So it's certainly been a while since I've updated this story. I've been working other projects, but I finally made it back here to this one.

Now, one of the biggest questions I had when writing this chapter was giving Latias her own separate name. With the introduction of other Latias's I felt that I needed to, but then I found that she probably didn't need a name. It felt too… weird giving her a name.

For anyone still reading this story I hope you enjoy it! And again, I love every one of you!


	5. Old Tools New World

**XxXxX**

"Hey Bianca! Have you seen the news?" Lorenzo shouted from the living room, making Itachi and Bianca look at each other in confusion. The sound of batter sizzling on a pan slowly falling to the wayside as the girl put down the pancake mixture onto the countertop and moved to the door that led to the living room.

"No. Did something happen?" Bianca asked, but gaped as she saw the news line.

"Yeah, a trainer and their pokemon was killed in Cherrygrove a few days ago." Lorenzo said as footage from a charred shack in the woods was put onto the screen of their small TV. Bianca sat down on one of the chairs and looked at the screen, covering her mouth as she did so.

"Was there a fire or something?" Bianca asked as Itachi peered in through the door, his eyes narrowing at what he saw on the screen.

"The police still don't know, but some of the locals said they heard an explosion around the time." Lorenzo said with a sigh.

"So they're thinking it was a murder?!" Bianca exclaimed.

"There isn't any definitive proof, but they do have somebody in custody so maybe." Lorenzo replied.

"I hope it was only an accident. Killing someone else like that is just wrong." Bianca stated. Itachi frowned at the scene being displayed on the TV before moving back to the pan that was cooking the pancakes.

"I hope so too. How are those pancakes coming along?" Lorenzo asked as he stood from his chair.

"Oh yeah! I nearly forgot!" Bianca said as she quickly stood up and ran into the kitchen. "Sorry for leaving you all the work… Itachi?" Looking around, the two family members found that the table had been set with the food neatly placed and ready to be served. "Where's Itachi?"

"Must have left while we were in the living room." Lorenzo said.

"But why did he leave? Did he not want to eat with us?" Bianca asked, a frown appearing on her face at the application of such a hurried departure.

"I don't think that's the reason why he left." Lorenzo said as he sat down at the table. "You've got to remember that he's a wild pokemon and has other things going on in his life than sitting down to eat with us."

"Yeah, you're right Grandpa. I guess I sometimes see him as a person rather than a pokemon sometimes." Bianca replied as she sat down at the table with her elder.

"That's very true. He does have a lot of human aspects that not even Latias shares. I wonder who his former trainer was?" Lorenzo asked aloud, putting a piece of a pancake into his mouth as he did so. "Wow! This is very good! Did Itachi make these?"

"I helped!" Bianca replied as she crossed her arms. "But yes, Itachi mixed the batter and… pretty much made everything else too."

"You should learn a thing or two from him then because these are some of the best pancakes I've ever tasted!" Lorenzo exclaimed, taking another bite of the heavenly breakfast cake. This made her granddaughter give him the death stare that meant 'you're going to pay for that later'.

"Whatever. I just hope that he'll sit down and have a meal with us sometime." Bianca replied as she took a sip of tea from her mug. "Do you have to work today?"

"Yeah. I just got a few orders from some new guy in town. How about you? Going to go back out to the festival today?" Lorenzo asked.

"Maybe. I want to see what Latias and her family are up to today." Bianca replied. "I haven't seen her since the time she brought Itachi over."

"Good idea. Well, have fun and enjoy the festival if you end up going." Lorenzo said as he stood from his empty plate of food.

"You already ate?! I haven't even taken my first bite!" Bianca exclaimed as she watched her grandfather move towards the door.

"What can I say? They were really good." Lorenzo said as he walked out the door with a wave. "Have fun!"

Bianca puffed her cheeks out in annoyance as she picked up her fork. Cutting into the small stack of pancakes, Bianca took a bite and her eyes widened considerably. "Wow, they are good!"

 **XxXxX**

Itachi sat aboard a small taxi boat as it cut through the canals of Altomare. In his human disguise, the Uchiha leaned against the side of the railing as he watched the water flow by and the breeze press against his face. Stopping several times since he's got on, Itachi would analyze the people getting on and off the small ship at each stop, but none of the people seemed suspicious. His destination? A small island about an hour away from the main island of Altomare that had a population of around six or seven. Vinon, the name of the small island, used to be one of the most important sub islands as it used to house Altomare's most prestigious nobles, but the long boat ride out to the island, coupled with a sudden change in local government, made the island a shell of its former self. The people that live there are either people that have clung to the past, or someone that simply wants to live in peace and quiet.

By the time the taxi had departed the bustling canals of Altomare, and set its next course to Vinon out on the open blue sea, Itachi found that he was the only one that remained on the ferry. The Uchiha's goal in traveling to the desolate island in the first place was to find a good place to train and practice with this new body. Something that he has had very little time of since he left the city limits of Viridian City. He had learned about the historical island of Vinon from a map that sat near the exit of the ferry he had originally came here on. It visually showed all the smaller islands, as well as how many people lived on each of the said islands, and which taxi led to each. The Greninja didn't have much time to analyze the map, as he was on the edge of bleeding out, but he did remember the location of the map and promptly returned after leaving Bianca's and Lorenzo's home earlier this morning.

The hour ferry out to Vinon went by quickly, but Itachi noted that if one looked very closely the small dot of Altomare could still be seen across the open water in the background. "It's not every day that somebody wants to come out here at this hour." The taxi operator said. "All of the people here go to work in Altomare around this time so there isn't going to be anyone here to greet ya. Well, anyway have a good adventure while you're here. I'll be coming back at two, seven, and eleven o'clock." And with that the taxi boat left the dock.

'So there isn't anyone here during the day?' Looking around, Itachi found a single dirt road leading into the center of the island. It was a relatively flat island with tall grass and trees littering the edges of a small canal that cut through the center. As the Uchiha made his way down the walkway, large old mansions began showing up within the depths of the underbrush. Most had not been cared for in a very long time, but each one wore their history proudly to any who wished to gaze upon them. There wasn't many, eight to be exact, but these eight families must have been the most influential groups in Altomare back in their hay day. Finally deciding to move off the beaten path, Itachi began walking around the island until stumbling upon a nice clearing on the edge of the island. In the distance one could see the dot that was Altomare staring back. 'To think this tiny island is a part of Altomare, and it contained some of the most powerful people in the republic's history. Amazing.'

Taking one last look around, Itachi took in a deep breath and, ever so slowly, released the air from his lungs. As he did so the human visage that covered himself melted away with the sea breeze. 'Lets begin the training.'

 **XxXxX**

"Lastias! Are you there?!" Bianca shouted as she walked into the Secret Garden. Not hearing anything, Bianca continued to walk around the mystical garden in admiration. This garden was a place of solace and tranquility that is unlike any other place she's ever been. Coming here for inspiration for her various pieces of art was common place in her routine, and even one of the drawings that she submitted to Kalos Institution of High Arts was of this magical place. She was blessed to have permission to come here by her best friend and her family.

A loud 'coo' resonated through the area, making said girl look over her shoulder. "Latias!" The red and white dragon cooed happily as the two hugged one another. "It's been a little while since I've seen you!"

" _How are you doing today Bianca_?" A voice resonated in her mind asked.

"Doing well Otto. How about yourself?" Bianca replied as she hugged the older blue and white dragon. Thanks to the group telepathy ability of Otto, Bianca was able to communicate with the pokemon if he was around to help. Group telepathy is a rare ability that allows the user to let three to four beings communicate telepathically. So for people like Bianca, or pokemon like Latias, who don't know Telepathy, this ability allows human and pokemon to communicate, but there is a limit. Otto can only use this ability with other Latias or Latios and humans that have a strong bond with said legendary pokemon. Bianca and Lorenzo are the only two humans that he has been able to use Group Telepathy with here in Altmoare.

" _I'm fine. Just trying to keep up with Latias here. There's so much to being a Guardian of Altomare that it makes my head spin._ " Otto responded, laying his body down onto the soft grass below. " _I don't have the energy that I did back when I was her age_."

"I'm still surprised that you came so quickly after what happened. We're lucky that you decided to stay here." Bianca said.

" _Yes, well it's the least I could do for what my brother and his mate has done for us. Besides…_ " Otto said as he looked to Latias. " _Somebody has to make sure Latias doesn't cause too much trouble_."

" _Hey_!" Latias exclaimed, making the two laugh.

"Come on Latias. We're just poking fun." Bianca said as she slung an arm around Latias's neck. "Oh, and you know that black Greninja that you dropped off at my place a few days ago?"

" _Yeah_?" Latias responded with a questioning look on her face. Bianca smiled and walked over to the swing before sitting down.

"Looks like he's going to be staying at my place for a while."

" _So that's where he's been living_!" Latias exclaimed. Otto sighed and shook his head, but the girl just blinked in confusion.

" _Latias talked him into staying longer than he was._ " Otto replied. " _Itachi was planning to leave yesterday afternoon, but this persistent Latias convinced him otherwise._ "

"How did you manage to talk him into it?" Bianca asked as the legendary began pushing the girl on the swing.

" _Itachi told me that he owed me a debt for saving his life. Before he managed to leave I told him that he could repay it by staying for a while longer_." Latias explained, but this only gained a sly look from the girl.

"And why would my best friend want Itachi to stay?" Bianca asked, making the pokemon jut back into the air behind her.

" _I-It's not what you think! It's just… um…_ " Stuttering on her words, Latias's face became completely red as she looked at everything that wasn't Bianca.

"Does little Latias have a crush on the mysterious Greninja?" Bianca asked as she got off the swing and walked towards her friend.

" _I-I do not! I barely know him!_ " Latias responded, face still crimson red.

" _Come now Bianca, I think that's enough teasing_." Otto said as he laughed at his niece's situation.

"Fine, fine, but what was the real reason you wanted him to stay? We barely know him." Bianca asked.

" _Do you not like him or something?_ " Latias asked, concerned that maybe her best friend was having problems with the silent water pokemon.

"No! No of course not! In fact he's even helping around the house to pay for his stay." Bianca replied while holding up her hands defensively. "Itachi has been good to Lorenzo and I since he's been here. I'm just curious why you asked him to stay."

" _It's kind of hard to explain…_ " Latias said as she looked off to the side.

"Hard to explain?" Bianca questioned.

" _It's been a while since Latias had a new friend Bianca, and for some reason she felt like that Greninja was the perfect pokemon to try and connect with._ " Otto said, trying to explain the situation for his niece.

"That's true. You've been really busy, haven't you?" Bianca said as she rubbed the top of the eon dragon's head, making her coo in delight.

" _The last friend I made was Ash and Pikachu, but they didn't stay for very long_." Latias said. " _I just wanted to have another friend was all._ "

"What? We aren't good enough for you?" Bianca asked, crossing her arms in mock anger as she did so.

" _Huh?! No! You all are great but... um…._ " Latias began stuttering on her words as she tried to formulate the best response. Bianca laughed and patted her on the side.

"Relax, I'm only teasing you. I understand that you just wanted another friend, but to blackmail him…" Bianca said as her sly grin returned. "I never knew you could be so ruthless."

" _Bianca!_ " Latias cried.

"Okay, okay, I'm done teasing for now. The real reason I came here was to see if you wanted to go to the festival with me later on this week." Bianca said. "I know you're busy and all, and I've got some stuff to do as well, but I'd like to spend some time with you."

" _Well, I'm pretty busy for the next few days, but on Saturday I should have some time. Does that sound good?_ "

"Sounds great! Let me know what time and we can have some fun!" Bianca said as she turned to leave, but looked around the garden one last time. "Hey, where's Emilia and Hannah?"

" _Oh, they're practicing_." Otto said with a grin.

"Practicing? Practicing for what?" Bianca asked.

" _To beat a certain someone in a game of tag_."

 **XxXxX**

Itachi began forming a bright light in the form of blades above his wrists. The ends of the blades extended far past his finger tips and very nearly reached the grass below. Dashing towards a tree, the Greninja swiftly cut into the bark at a rapid pace until finally jumping backwards. The tree held deep slash marks engraved all along the bark from where he had viciously cut into the tree. 'X Scissor… a useful tool for close range combat.' Allowing the blades to disappear, Itachi looked to the ocean. It was about four in the afternoon if he had to guess a time, and while he had accomplished much in this day of training there was one thing that was starting to bug him.

 _I'll let you keep something that may prove useful and place you in the best host I can find. You're going to need it._

It was clear what the host was, a ninja type pokemon that could use illusions, but what did he mean when the Shinigami said 'let you keep something'? Itachi had been thinking what it could be whenever he has had the chance, but nothing made logical sense. His soul, or whatever _he_ was composed of, was taken from the afterlife and placed into this hybrid pokemon. From what the death god was saying, the Uchiha would have something that he would have possessed in his previous life, but this raised the question of how the death god would have brought it here.

'There is more going on here than what meets the eye.' Itachi thought as he sat down onto the soft grass below. Using simple deduction, Itachi ruled out that whatever the death god left wasn't an item, unless he wanted him to find it later. With this being ruled out, the only thing left… 'Could it be?' Focusing energy to his eyes, Itachi quickly found that the world around him became sharper. As if everything was suddenly seen in high definition. Walking over to the water's edge, Itachi looked into the reflection to see his once onyx eyes were now crimson red with three tomes surrounding the pupil. 'So this is what he meant…' Deciding to press it further, Itachi pushed more energy into his eyes until the three tomoes disappeared and morphed into a three pronged pinwheel. 'It seems my cursed eyes still follow me here. The Mangekyo Sharingan…'

The powerful eyes that people feared across the land in his old world were more of a reminder than anything. A reminder of what he's done, and what he's lost. Shaking his head, Itachi walked to the center of the field and began pooling the power of his eyes. Itachi needed to see the extent of how much power was placed into his eyes. Was everything he trained for still there contained within his eyes? Or did some of it not make it to this body?

In any case, he was given this power for a reason, and who was he to stare a gift horse in the mouth?

 **XxXxX**

"I was wondering when you were going to leave. I came back around two and didn't see you here so I figured you were still wondering around." The helmsman of the boat taxi said as Itachi watched the few people get off the boat to go home. This was the time where people would normally get off work and take the taxi home, so this came to no surprise to the Uchiha. "Ready to leave?" Nodding his head, the disguised Greninja walked onto the boat and went to sit near the rear of the boat, but a hand was placed onto his shoulder as he passed. "Not much of a talker now are ya? That's fine, but there is one last thing you need to see before leaving Vinon." Raising an eyebrow, Itachi walked to the front of the boat and looked out across the ocean.

Leaving the dock, the boat began moving towards the large parent island of Altomare, which was a tiny spec in the distance. But what caught his eye was the setting sun. It was seven in the afternoon and the sun was beginning to shorten the distance between itself and the city of Altomare. An orange streak reflected up from the lapping water as the ship cut through the waves. The wind from the moving ship only added to the majestic beauty that the scene portrayed. It was like a picture was painted in front of his eyes, and Itachi didn't want to look away.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" The helmsman said with a look of satisfaction on his old face. He looked to be in his sixties, but was still clearly fit for his age. The man had gray hair and dark tan skin from being in the sun all day. "There's a reason I leave the docks of Vinon at seven every day. The westerly winds, the sunset, and the way the pokemon feel so peaceful during the afternoon. It all comes together to make the perfect afternoon." The man leaned against the helm and smiled. "It's been this way ever since I was a kid and I wouldn't change it for the world. Consider yourself lucky lad because only the people of Vinon and myself know of this little display of nature's true beauty and we try to keep it that way."

Itachi only nodded his head as he stared at the scene in front of him. Never before has he seen something so perfect. Not in this life, or his last.

 **XxXxX**

"Have a nice evenin'. If you ever want to return to Vinon then come to this dock at those times. That way you won't have to sit around like this morning." The helmsman said as the boat began moving away from the docks. Itachi waved his hand over his shoulder as he walked away. He was exhausted. By the time the boat made it back to Altomare the sun had long since dropped behind the crest of the earth.

The Uchiha walked through the darkening streets of Altomare until dropping his illusion with a sigh. "I know you're there. You can stop hiding." He had walked into a dark alleyway with only the light of the street lamps to brighten his surroundings.

"How do you always know?! We're always able to sneak up on everyone else!" Emilia exclaimed as the two twin eon dragons came out of hiding. Crossing his arms, the water pokemon raised an eyebrow in question.

"Did you two need something?" Itachi asked.

"I think we've done it." Hannah said with a grin.

"Done what?" Itachi pressed.

"Come up with a strategy to beat you." Emilia said for her sister.

"Beat me? Oh…" Itachi let out a sigh of relief when he realized what they were talking about.

"You're going down this time. We've been training since last time and there's no way you can win." Hannah said with pride.

"Can this wait? I'm pretty tired and need some rest." Itachi replied as he rubbed his sore arms.

"Backing down from the challenge?" Emilia taunted. "If you turn away then we automatically win."

"Fine, you win. Have a good night." Itachi said as he turned to leave.

"Wait! You can't just leave!" Emilia said as she flew in front of the retreating Greninja, followed quickly by her sister.

"You're not even going to try? Come on!" Hannah said with a long, drawn out, plea.

"I'm sorry, but I meant it. I'm hungry and very sore. Can we please just do this another time?" Itachi asked. The two girls pouted, but nodded their heads anyway.

"Fine, but you said you were hungry, right?" Hannah asked, gaining a nod from the Greninja. "Then how about grabbing something to eat with us!"

"But didn't we-?" Emilia began to say, but was punched in the arm by her sister. Itachi saw this, but decided to play along anyway.

"While I would love to get some food, I don't have any money to spend." Itachi replied.

"That's okay! Come with me and I'll show you a great place to get some money!" Hannah said as she grabbed Itachi's hand and began pulling him along. "Come on Emilia! Lets show him 'The Well'!"

"Okay!" Emilia shouted as she grabbed Itachi's other hand. As the three pokemon were about to exit the alleyway they all blanketed themselves in their human façade. Two young twin girls and an older black haired boy emerged from the alley with the latter being pulled along by the purple haired twins.

Itachi sighed as he let himself be dragged along by the two excited Latias. Sure he was tired and hungry, but these young pokemon wanted to spend time with him. The least he could do was acknowledge their kindness with his own time.

The three got many odd stares before they finally made it to a place that Itachi vaguely remembered. It was the very same courtyard that he had nearly bled out in four days prior. "And here we are! A nice little courtyard with barely any people." Hannah said as the two eon dragons released their grasp on the water pokemon. True to her words there wasn't a single soul, besides themselves, in the courtyard.

"This is one place where people come to make a wish to the Guardian of Altomare to keep them safe. After they make their wish the person drops a coin or two into the fountain." Emilia explained as she skipped over to the fountain. The Uchiha walked over to a wooden bench and ran his hand across its back as he walked behind said bench. A slight tint of red could be seen stained into the wood where he once sat. Itachi was shook from his thoughts when he felt a hand pull on his sleeve. Looking down, he saw a worried twin staring at him.

"Are you okay?" Hannah asked.

"I'm fine, just thinking is all." Itachi said, a soft smile playing upon his lips as he walked over to Emilia. "So why did we come here?"

Hannah looked at him suspiciously, but decided not to press the matter any further. "We come here when we need a little bit of spending money. Leave it for long enough then there is plenty of money for the two of us."

"But there doesn't seem to be a lot in here now…" Emilia said as she walked along the edge of the cement fountain.

"Is taking money from the fountain dedicated to your cousin a bad idea?" Itachi asked as he watched the two begin collecting money from the water.

"It's fine! She never really takes money from this fountain anyway." Emilia replied.

"Latias tends to get her spending money from the southern fountain while we take money from here, but _please_ , whatever you do, don't tell dad that we take money from the fountain." Hannah said as she stepped out of the fountain with a fist full of coins. Itachi furrowed a brow at this, but decided it was best not to know why.

"If you say so." Itachi said as the twins shook off the water from their transformed state, which Itachi quickly recognized was different from his own. His transformation was based on illusions, same with his ability to project his thoughts to someone else, while the Latias used a form of physic power to transform into a human.

"I don't have much…" Emilia said as she counted the coins in her hands.

"Me neither." Hannah said, counting the coins in her hands as well. "This should be enough for at least Itachi. Where do you feel like eating?"

"Can we walk around for a little while? I'm not too sure what I want to eat." Itachi said as he walked out of the courtyard and towards the festival.

"Sure! Lets go Hannah!" Emilia said as she quickly followed after the Greninja. Hannah began to follow, but took a quick glance to the bench Itachi was standing near earlier. "Hannah! Lets go!"

"Coming!" Hannah shouted as she chased after the two.

 **XxXxX**

" _Does this festival happen every year_?" Itachi asked, gaining a nod from the twins. The three were walking amongst a thick crowd of humans at the center of the city so talking would only sound strange. If Emilia and Hannah were to speak now then it would only be a series of 'coos' coming out of the mouths of the two twin girls, sounding rather strange. He was able to project his voice to the two twins due to his illusions, but unfortunately they couldn't speak to him.

Sighing at the awkwardness of the situation, Itachi looked over at a stand that held a machine with shaved ice. Grinning, Itachi tapped Hannah on the shoulder and held out his hand. " _Mind if I see the money real quick_?" Itachi asked. Hannah tilted her head to the side, but handed him the money anyway. " _Stay here. I'll be right back_." Before the two could do anything Itachi disappeared into the slew of people. The twins looked at one another as they stood in the center of all the people. It felt like they were converging onto them from all sides.

The twins were beginning to worry until Itachi appeared in front of them holding two cups of shaved ice. One blue and the other red. " _This is for you two._ " Itachi said, handing them the shaved ice. Emilia immediately grabbed the red one and began eating, visibly pleased with the offer of the cup of sweetened ice. Hannah, however, was more reluctant to accept his offer, but as she went to speak a finger was placed onto her mouth. Looking up to Itachi, he winked and pressed the dessert into her. " _Enjoy it. Please, for me_." Staring back for a couple of moments Hannah finally sighed and took the cup.

Pleased with the outcome, Itachi shifted through the crowd with the two Latias on his heels. They finally made it into an open courtyard where Hannah and Emilia finally found room to speak. "Thank you for the shaved ice!" Emilia exclaimed, still eating the flavored ice with vigor.

"But what about you? I thought you were hungry?" Hannah asked, taking a bite as well.

"I'm fine. I'll just eat something when I get to Bianca's." Itachi said, waving off the question as he moved to the other side of the courtyard.

"But we collected that money for you so you could eat!" Emilia exclaimed as they ran up to him. Itachi smiled lightly before poking them in their foreheads with his middle and index fingers. "Hey!"

"Why'd you do that?!" Hannah exclaimed as she rubbed her forehead.

"Thank you for your concern little ones, but I feel this was a better use of the money." Itachi then looked up into the air and breathed in heavily. 'They remind me of my little brother before the massacre.' "See you two around." And with that, Itachi disappeared in a burst of smoke, leaving the two girls stunned.

"When did he…?" Emilia asked.

"Why do you even ask that?" Hannah said, taking another bite of her shaved ice. "You better eat yours before it melts. Itachi wouldn't want you to waste it, now would he?"

"Right, sorry." Emilia replied as she followed her sister's lead.

 **XxXxX**

Itachi silently landed onto the cobbled ground in front of Bianca's home. Opening the door, the Greninja slipped into a silent house while transforming into his human visage, save for the sound coming from the television in the living room. On the kitchen table sat a plate of food covered by a glass dome normally used to cover a cake. Bianca must have left it out for him since he was so late getting back. Moving past the table, the water pokemon peered into the living room to see Bianca sleeping on a chair, the light from the TV the only thing illuminating the room.

Sighing, Itachi walked over and turned off the TV. After grabbing a blanket draped over the back of the couch, the Uchiha softly placed it over the sleeping girl before returning to the food in the kitchen. The food looked great, was this her version of Shepherd's Pie?

"Glad to see you back." Lorenzo said as he walked in through one of the doors leading to his workshop with a cup of coffee in his hand. Itachi nodded his head in recognition to the older man as he sat down across from the pokemon. "Bianca left you some food just in case you didn't have anything to eat."

" _I'm grateful. It was very kind_." Itachi replied, taking a bite of the food.

"I haven't seen Bianca this energetic in a while. It's nice to see her come alive since the incident." Lorenzo said, leaning back into the wooden chair as he did so. "Did you know she's leaving soon?" Itachi remained quiet, but the image of a letter popped up into his head. "Bianca was invited to join an extremely prestigious art school in Kalos, and her mood has changed drastically since that day." Lorenzo chuckled as the memory returned to him. "She tried her best to hide the news, but I found the letter hidden in the spare room." His face then became that of a sad father, about to let his child move onto the next phase of their life. "Latias and I will miss her when she moves on, and it will hurt to see her go, but I think it's for the best."

" _Why is Bianca waiting so long to tell you_?"

"Probably to surprise us if I had to guess."

" _I've seen some of her work. She's very talented_."

"I agree, and she deserves to be taught by best..."

" _But you're worried about something._ "

Lorenzo sighed before taking a sip of his coffee. "This will be the first time she has ever left Altomare for an extended period of time. What if something happens and she can't contact me? What if she doesn't like it and can't come home because of what she may think we expect of her back home?" He then looked over at the Greninja and nearly shook his head. 'I'm talking to a pokemon about my problems. What has this world come to?'

" _Sounds like you have the same concerns as any parent would have when they send their child off on their own._ " Itachi replied with a soft smile. " _You've raised a strong girl. She'll be fine._ "

"Yeah, I guess you're right. I'm just worried is all." Lorenzo said, his eyes following the pokemon as he brought his plate to the sink.

" _We all find our way eventually, and Bianca is no different. Believe in her and always be there for her._ " Itachi said as he began washing his plate. " _If you do that then there's nothing she can't accomplish._ "

"Itachi… you speak like an old man that has seen the world four times over." Itachi smiled sadly at Lorenzo's words, but since his back was facing the older man he wasn't able to see it. "Who was your last trainer, if you don't mind me asking?"

" _I did not have a former trainer_. _I've been alone since I came into this world_." Itachi responded, simply staring down into the dark sink.

"I'm sorry to hear that." Lorenzo replied. The old boat maker felt sorry for the mature pokemon, but at the same time he did not claim to know everything about the greninja's life. Maybe the black pokemon wanted to be alone, so he kept to himself and never communicated with other pokemon? Or maybe he was cast out by the others in his group for how he looked, or what he may have done? Lorenzo didn't know, and didn't want to push the topic any further.

" _What's done is done._ " Itachi said as he sat back into his original chair. " _Just got to keep pressing on_."

"No words have ever been more true." Lorenzo replied, taking a long sip from his cup. "You know, your mannerisms are more like a human than a pokemon. I thought that maybe you learned them from a trainer that may have set you free, but now that you say you've never had a trainer…"

" _I'm just very observant is all._ "

Chuckling, Lorenzo shook his head at the obvious lie. "If you say so my friend."

 **XxXxX**

 **AN:** So I know it's been a while since I've updated _any_ of my stories, but I've been going through a rather tough part of my life. I'm sorry to everyone that has waited for updates on this story. I truly am, but things just haven't been working out for me as of late.

Thanks to everyone who continues to read my stories. It truly means a lot.

And I mean every word of it. Thank you.


	6. Clear Water

**XxXxX**

 _If you wish to kill me, resent me, hate me, and survive… in obscurity. Run… keep running… and cling to life. Then one day, come before me with the same eyes as I possess._

Itachi landed onto the soft grass of the island of Vinon after releasing a powerful Hydro Pump. His crimson pinwheel eyes sprang to life as an orange aura surrounded his body. The skeletal aura encased the Uchiha in a quick and fluid motion that shouted he has been practicing this for almost his entire life. Taking several swipes with the sword in the aura's hand, Itachi sighed before allowing the aura warrior to dissolve away in the wind.

Walking over to the water's edge, Itachi sat down with his legs hanging in the water. The cool water felt amazing on his body as the waves pressed softly against island's edge. 'My little brother… I'm so sorry for how everything turned out. You were so kind and curious when we were young, but now…' Breathing in heavily, Itachi stared out across the water to where Altomare sat. His eyes still held onto the Mangekyo Sharingan, allowing him perfect clarity of the water and the city far in the background. 'The least I can do is shoulder this burden for you.'

Itachi quickly jumped up into the air and began running through hand signs. Pulling in as much as air his lungs could hold, Itachi shot out a wall of black smoke that filled the area up. After training on this island for three days, the Uchiha found that by using hand signs before an attack, said attack would flow more easily and use less energy. These hand signs came naturally to him when Itachi prepared each attack, but it was noted that not all attacks required/needed hand signs to function.

The smoke screen filled the clearing, and once it was full Itachi dashed through the smoke, his eyes staying on one specific spot. After a few seconds of running through the smoke, a loud 'Eep' could be heard.

"Hannah?" Itachi said, the smoke clearing to show a surprised red and white eon dragon pinned against a tree. One hand clasped against her chest and the other holding a water kunai in the ready position to strike if the need arose. The legendary stared back at Itachi in shock. How did he know she was there so quickly? "What are you doing here?"

"I… Uh…" Hannah stuttered as she looked over at the sharp knife in the greninja's hand. Realizing what she was looking at, Itachi released the water kunai from his hand along with the weight he was pressing onto Hannah.

"Now, why are you here?" Itachi pressed. Hannah sighed as she looked away with a small tinge of red on her cheeks.

"I was just trying to figure out where you disappear to during the day." She replied. Itachi crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow in suspicion. "Okay, okay. I was trying to see if I could find a way to beat you in tag, but when I arrived I only saw you sitting on the bank relaxing. Is this where you've been all this time?"

"In a way. I've been coming out here to train. It's the perfect place to come to because there aren't any people out here during the day." Itachi said as he walked to the center of the clearing. "It's also a nice place to get away from the bustling streets of Altomare." It was also nice that Hannah didn't catch a glimpse of his sharingan before deactivating it.

"Train? You mean for battling?" Hannah asked as she followed the water pokemon to the center of the clearing.

"Of course. Why else would I train?" Itachi responded in question.

"I don't know. I've never trained to battle before." Hannah said, kind of embarrassed by the notion. "I mean, I know how to use my attacks and how they function, but applying them to a battle…"

"You're still young, Hannah. So I'm not surprised."

The two stayed quiet for a while, the soft breeze brushing against them as the legendary pokemon racked her brain. "Itachi?"

"Hmm?"

"Why is your skin color so different than the other Greninja?" Said water pokemon looked over to her with a curious expression on his face. "I mean, your skin is so different than the other Greninja I've met." Itachi sighed, and looked up into the clear blue sky. He knew the answer to the curious Latias's question, that he was a hybrid. A test tube specimen that somehow managed to live through a cataclysmic event that destroyed the lab he was created in. And his mind, along with his sharingan, somehow was planted into this shell of a body.

"It was just the way I was born." Itachi replied, gaining an irritated look from the legendary.

"That doesn't answer my-!" Hannah began to say, but received a poke on her forehead by the black greninja.

"You learn more about someone by spending time with them. Not aggressively pursuing something until they push you away." Itachi said.

"Okay… oh! I've got a great idea!" Hannah said as she floated to the center of the clearing with a wide smile adorning her face.

"…?" Itach watched as she looked around the clearing and nodded her head, officially making up her mind.

"How about I train with you?"

"Train? With me?" Itachi questioned, furrowing a brow at the young Latias.

"Yup!"

"Why would you want to train? You're still so young. There's not really a-." Itachi began to say, but the look Hannah was giving him made him stop in his tracks. A look of pure determination stared back at Itachi.

"I want to become stronger. I want to show my dad that I can take care of myself and Emilia if anything were to happen. I want…" Hannah sighed and looked to the side, hurt evident in her eyes. "I want to be able to protect my family." Itachi stared back at the young Latias with his normal cold gaze. "You don't have to if you don't want to, but I-."

"Are you sure? I won't go easy on you." Itachi replied as he took a step into the clearing. Hannah's eyes brightened drastically at the greninja's words.

"Absolutely!"

Itachi grinned underneath his scarf as he formed a water kunai in his hand. It wasn't completely formed, and would only sting if it actually made contact with another being. Quick as lightning, Itachi shot the kunai at Hannah who was completely taken by surprise. The water attack smacked against her chest, pushing her back somewhat. "What was that?!"

"First part of your training. Learning to dodge range attacks." Itachi said as two more water kunai formed in either of his hands. Hannah gulped as Itachi's piercing onyx eyes stared back at her. "Lets begin."

 **XxXxX**

"I hate you…" Hannah said as she laid down onto the ground in front of the silent Greninja, who softly chuckled at the legendary's expense. After several hours of training, which mostly consisted of Hannah dodging various attacks from Itachi, the young Latias collapsed to the ground from exhaustion. Never before has she pushed herself so hard for such a long time, and even though Itachi wasn't attacking her with everything he had, Hannah knew she had several bruises on her body.

"I said I wasn't going easy on you." Itachi responded only to hear a grumble in return. Looking up to the sky above, Itachi found that it was about time for the boat to arrive. "I'm assuming you're flying back?"

"Too… sore…" Hannah replied as she turned over so she too was looking up into the sky.

"Can you not fly?"

"I can… barely… feel… my wings…" Hannah replied, making Itachi sigh at the situation, but a small smile crept up from behind his scarf. Hannah truly put her all into the training today, and while she may have seen it as simply dodging his attacks, the training was twofold. It allowed the Uchiha to calibrate the speed and endurance Hannah had while also allowing him to test the speed of which he could create and throw his water based weapons. Itachi wanted to know her current speed when put into a battle situation.

"Can you transform into a human?" Itachi asked.

"Uh… yeah. I think so." Hannah said before turning into one of the two pink haired girls that chased him before. Just like before she wore an orange tank top with jean shorts along with a pair of sandals. Itachi himself transformed into a human as well and walked over to the sprawled out girl.

"Come on, let me help you." Itachi said as he picked up the girl from the ground.

"You don't have to. I'll just…" Hannah began to say, but promptly stopped when she was secured onto his back. The Greninja peered back at the girl, only to see her eyes closed with her arms wrapped around his neck. Itachi could only smile at the exhausted girl as he began making his way towards the dock.

It didn't take Itachi long to return to the dock. He even passed by a few people while he was in transit. Each of whom looked confused at him being here in the first place. He ignored the questioning looks from the five or so people that he passed and grinned when he saw the waving arm of Thomas Francisco. "I figured you'd want to take this ride back! So I waited a couple extra minutes just to be sure!" Thomas shouted once he saw the concealed pokemon. Itachi nodded his head and took a step onto the boat. "And who might this be? A relative perhaps?" The older man asked as Itachi placed the girl onto one of benches near the front of the boat. Not thinking of any other ideas, the greninja nodded his head as he leaned against the side of the railing of the boat so he could see both Hannah and the spectacle that was the sunset. Thomas smiled as he removed the ropes that kept the boat anchored to the dock. "Didn't know that you had family that lives here. Are they here on vacation as well?" The black haired boy shrugged as the beautiful scene came into view. "So maybe not family. Friend then?"

Itachi sighed as he looked back at the girl purple haired girl. Were they friends? It was a complicated arrangement, at least in his eyes, but if anyone were to ask the young Latias then she would almost immediately say that they were. "Complicated?" Thomas voiced, to which Itachi subconsciously nodded. "Always is, but give it some time. I'm sure everything will work itself out." It was clear to Itachi that the elder man was able to read people very well. Nodding his head, the Greninja sat down next to the sleeping Latias, who dropped her head onto his arm as soon as he took a seat. "She seems to be pretty comfortable around you as well." Thomas chuckled at the scene before returning his gaze to the open water before them.

The concealed pokemon stared down at the young girl in question before looking out to the ocean as well. Hannah kind of reminded Itachi of Sasuke in a way… at least before he killed off the Uchiha clan.

 **XxXxX**

One hour later Itachi found himself carrying Hannah on his back through the streets of Altomare. The sun had long since set only to be reclaimed by the darkened sky above. Still, the people around them all smiled at the scene of a human Itachi carrying a small girl on his back through the streets. Mostly ignoring the stares that he got, the Uchiha maneuvered the girl so she was better positioned on his back while he turned down a rather silent street. Something was tugging at the back of his mind every time he turned to check on the condition of his newly acquainted student. He has had this feeling before, when he was around others that were sleeping close to him. It felt as if this feeling was pulling him towards those that were dreaming, but why?

Itachi shook those thoughts from his mind as he walked through the illusionary veil leading into the Hidden Garden. It was quiet, as it normally was within the confines of the obscure garden at the center of the city, but to the Greninja's surprise Otto, Jessi, or Emilia were not present. Shrugging it off as a coincidence, Itachi walked through the garden until reaching the back wall, behind the podium where the Soul Dew rested. While the Uchiha didn't know exactly where the legendary dragons slept, he determined that the back was the safest place to sleep at night since the only entrance that he knew about was at the opposite end of the garden.

Placing the sleeping girl down onto a soft patch of grass near the back wall, Itachi stood and allowed the illusion that covered himself to fall away. Hannah quietly slept under his watchful eyes as he softly poked her in the forehead. The psychic veil that covered the girl disappeared to reveal an exhausted Latias. His eyes lingered on the young legendary for a time while the pull in the back of his mind continued to intensify. It wasn't like the draw to move westward. No… this was something more primal. Something that was built into his DNA and needed to be satisfied no matter what. Unbeknownst to Itachi his onyx eyes began to glow a soft blue as he looked at the sleeping Hannah.

A wave of pleasure suddenly washed over the Greninja as images began to pop into the center of his mind. It was then that Hannah began to toss and turn in her sleep, making Itachi furrow his brows. It looked as if the girl was having a nightmare, but was it his doing? Forcing back the almost seductive wave of pleasure that radiated from his body, the images stopped and Hannah stopped her almost violent thrashing. So it was his doing… but how and why? He has never felt the need to do whatever he was doing before unless he was in close proximity to someone that was sleeping, and even then it wasn't necessary for his survival. It just felt satisfying, but not needed… for now.

Walking away from the legendary, Itachi made his way towards the exit, but stopped before the alter where the Soul Dew rested. The glowing blue orb radiated its warmth within the small pool as small bubbles floated up to the top of the pool from underneath. It was obvious that this little rock was important to the city, Itachi knew that much, but he felt it best to be left in the dark as to why. There was no reason for him to know just as there was no reason for those around him to know where he actually came from.

Shaking his head one last time Itachi exited the Hidden Garden to return to the place he called home.

 **XxXxX**

Itachi coughed as he waved the smoke away from his face. 'So that's how powerful Shadow Ball is.' Itachi thought as the smoke finally cleared from the hidden training field that was tucked away between several buildings at the southern end of town. Since leaving Professor Oak's lab, the Uchiha has been primarily training his water based moves, along with testing the limits of the Sharingan, but the thought that his dark type moves being stronger due to whatever else was shoved into him made him curious. Greninja have an apparent draw towards dark type moves, them being ninjas being the primary component to this, but when it comes to naturally learning dark type moves the Greninja species was rather lacking. The Zoroark that was merged into his body, however, granted him an unusual, but nonetheless welcomed, addition to his arsenal. Images of moves he did not know began to surface into his mind as he began exploring dark type moves. Even so Itachi couldn't help but feel that there was something else pushed into this body of his.

Breathing in deeply, Itachi inhaled the fresh ocean air like his life depended on it. 'Hannah should be resting for day, while Otto and Jessi are busy doing their routine patrols about the city.' Itachi thought as he looked up into the clear blue sky. 'Which leaves…'

"Itachi!" The greninja blinked a few times before suddenly finding himself tackled to the ground by an invisible force. Audibly grunting from the impact, the Uchiha looked down to see Emilia smiling back at him. "Please play with me!" The water pokemon sighed as he lifted the young legendary off of his body. "Jessi and papa are too busy, and Hannah said she was too tired for some reason."

"Emilia, I-."

"Please!" Emilia said, interrupting Itachi from trying to make an excuse.

"… Fine. I suppose I can play with you for a little while."

"YAY!" Emilia exclaimed as she flew around the black pokemon in pure joy. Do all Latias do that when they're happy?

"What did you want to play?" Itachi asked as he transformed into a human.

"Hmm… well tag is out of the question because I can't beat you by myself." The Latias said as she floated to the center of the training field. It was then that Itachi sensed another presence making their way to the training field.

"Emilia?" Itachi began.

"We could race to the other end of Altomare, but that wouldn't be fair since I can fly."

"Emilia!" Itachi tried shouting, but it still didn't seem to work.

"Unless we make some rules that would level the playing field. Hey Itachi-?!"

"Whoa! Is that a Latias?!" A voice exclaimed from the side of the training ground, making Itachi audibly grumble. Emilia immediately froze when she heard the new voice echo across the empty field. Looking over to its source, a young man, around eleven or so, with brown hair and yellow eyes stood shocked at the legendary before him. He wore a brown sleeveless shirt with black cargo shorts. "I can't believe I would be so lucky to find a Latias!" Itachi looked to Emilia and she was so shocked that she wasn't moving. Was she having a panic attack? She looked like a deer caught in the headlights of a truck. "Fate must be on my side! Lets catch it Croconaw!" A blue pokemon appeared before the boy ready for battle. "Before it runs! Use-!" The boy began to shout when he saw a young black hooded boy walk in between him and the legendary. "Wha- Who are you?!"

Itachi shook his head as he placed his hand on the neck of Emilia, who was still having a severe panic attack. He gently rubbed her mane, causing the young Latias to snap back to reality. " _Play along_." Itachi whispered to her with the help of his illusions. Nodding slightly, Emilia cooed at Itachi's touch and lowered her body to his level allowing him a better vantage point to pet her head.

"Wait… is that your Latias?" The boy asked. Itachi nodded his head in the affirmative as he retracted an illusionary pokeball from his jacket and tossed it up and down in his free hand. "Ah shucks! And here I thought I got extremely lucky!" The boy said as he kicked the dirt beneath him in frustration. He then looked to the hooded boy and 'his' Latias, only to see them staring back in confusion. "Right. Sorry about that. I must have not seen you when I first came here because of your Latias. The name's Jim by the way." He hung his head in embarrassment. His Croconaw was staring intently at Emilia, who tried her best to hide behind Itachi's human form.

"Do you know sign language?" Itachi asked in sign language. The boy stared at Itachi's hands in confusion, meaning that was a no. The Uchiha then pointed to his throat in a manner that portrayed that he couldn't use vocalized speech.

"Oh, a mute huh? Sorry to hear that, but at least you can find comfort in knowing you've caught a Latias. They're extremely rare and hide themselves very well." Itachi nodded his head as he looked to Emilia, who was still shaking somewhat at the prospect of being seen by a human in pokemon form.

" _When the red beam from this pokeball hits you I want you to turn invisible and leave. Got it?_ " Itachi said to only Emilia. The legendary looked to Itachi for a moment and nodding her head. Itachi pointed the pokeball at her and fired the red beam. As soon as the red beam touched the Latias she turned invisible, making it seem like she entered the pokeball. Itachi placed the illusionary pokeball into his jacket, which promptly disappeared when it left Jim's sight. Itachi felt Emilia linger for another moment before leaving the training field.

"Do you have any other pokemon?" Jim asked as he returned his Croconaw. Itachi shook his head in the negative, making the young trainer gape in awe. "Then how in the world did you catch her?!" Itachi shrugged his shoulders as he placed his hands into his pockets. "Eh, someone must have given her to you. That's the only way…" Sighing, Itachi turned to leave this annoying situation. "Wait! Before you leave, you wouldn't mind if I treated you to lunch? As an apology for trying to capture your Latias." Itachi raised his hands, trying to say he didn't have to. "I insist! I feel really bad for trying to catch someone else's pokemon. It's the least I could do."

Itachi stared at the boy for a moment before finally giving in with a reluctant nod. The look Jim was giving him told the pokemon in disguise everything he needed to know; that he was not going to take no for an answer.

"Fantastic! Follow-." Jim began to say.

"Would you two mind clearing the area? We want to have a three on three battle!" Someone shouted at the other end of clearing. We looked over to see a young girl, about the age as Jim holding a pokeball in her hand. Standing opposite of her was another girl holding a pokeball as well.

"Oh, sorry! We'll get out of your way!" Jim shouted as Itachi followed Jim towards one of the many alleyways that was connected to the small battle arena. "Didn't see them enter the training field, did you?" Itachi shook his head as they rounded the corner to see a small café set up inside the already packed street. A single small table with four chairs sat outside the café, while the rest of the restaurant was inside. Two people sat at the table, a boy and a girl that looked very similar to Jim. The other boy had black hair and violet eyes while the girl looked just like Jim, except a girl… They looked to be expecting the two by the way they looked to Jim and smiled brightly.

"There you are! How did your morning training go?" The girl asked.

"You're back early from training. Decided to pack it in early today?" The violet eyed boy asked, but then his eyes landed on Itachi, who has left his hood over his head this entire time. "Who's the shady guy following you around?"

"I didn't get to train very much this morning because of this guy, so not so well Mei, and he's not shady Tanner! He's just can't talk is all." Jim explained as he sat down at one of the empty chairs, Itachi soon following suit.

"Like a mute or something?" Tanner asked before taking a sip of his drink. Itachi nodded his head, making the violet eyes boy frown. "Sucks man. Sorry to hear that."

"What did you mean that you couldn't train because of…" Mei said, but then looked to Itachi in question as he removed the hood from his head, making the girl blush slightly. Itachi grabbed a napkin and a pen that happened to sitting on the table before writing his name onto the parchment. "Itachi? Is that your name?" The Uchiha nodded at her question.

"Nice to meet you Itachi. I'm Mei, Jim's twin sister, and this is Tanner. A friend that we met and decided to join us on our journey." Mei said. Itachi nodded his head at each of them.

"In any case I owe you some lunch, so go ahead and order anything you want on the menu. Just… keep it within reason please. I'm not made of money." Jim said as he rubbed the back of head sheepishly.

"Oh Arceus what did you do this time?" Mei asked, a little annoyed that she wasn't able to finish her question.

"I uh…" Jim began to say as he began blushing in embarrassment. "I kind of tried to catch his pokemon…" As soon as the words left his mouth Tanner burst into laughter while Mei sighed at her brother's actions. "But wait! I had a good reason to!" Itachi pointed to an item on the menu to the waiter who happened to be standing nearby. A simple fish dish that was rather cheap and small. While the gesture was nice, Itachi would rather be somewhere else. He could easily find food himself, by returning to Bianca's or otherwise. In either case Itachi didn't feel comfortable around other humans that he just met. Maybe it was his pokemon instincts kicking in like when he scavenged for food, but Itachi has, thus far, been grateful for this built in defense system.

"And what could have possibly pushed you to try and catch Itachi's pokemon?" Mei asked once Tanner was beginning to calm down.

"Because he has a legendary!" Almost immediately Tanner became quiet as the two accusers looked to Itachi in shock. Well… he didn't actually own a legendary, since he was a pokemon himself, but he had to keep the guise that he was a trainer. So the Uchiha simply shrugged his shoulders and took a sip from the tea that was poured for him.

"A legendary? You managed to capture a legendary?" Tanner asked, his mouth agape in pure shock. Itachi nodded his head in response. "Which one?"

"A Latias. I had tunnel vision when I saw his pokemon that I couldn't think of anything else." Jim said as he looked to Itachi, who remained as stoic as ever.

"That's insane! To have a legendary on your team…" Tanner said as he looked up into the air, stars in his eyes from the very thought of having a legendary of his own.

"It's Tanner's dream to one day catch a legendary pokemon of his own, but before that he has to train his team to take one on." Jim explained. "And it's Mei's dream to one day become the best coordinator."

"Hey! I'll have you know I already have two ribbons to your three badges! That's pretty good!" Mei exclaimed before crossing her arms.

"Right, right, calm down princess. Nobody said anything about being better than you at anything." Tanner said.

"PRINCESS! When we're done here I'm going to-!"

"Your food is ready." A waiter said as she began placing plates of food in front of us. Mei mumbled something under her breath, making the other two boys laugh at her expense.

"So how long have you been in Altomare, Itachi?" Tanner asked. The Uchiha paused for a moment, before holding up seven fingers. "Seven days?" Itachi nodded. "So not that long then. We've been here for about a two weeks because a contest is going to be held at the end of the Guardian Festival."

"And it's Altomare's first ever pokemon contest! So, for anyone who wins it will have the amazing title of Altomare's one and only contest winner." Mei said, stars twinkling in her eyes as she spoke.

"At least until the next one rolls around." Jim said after swallowing a massive fork full of food.

"Nobody asked for your opinion!" Mei exclaimed. Itachi placed his utensils onto his empty plate and finished the last of his tea before standing up from the table. "Done so soon?" Itachi nodded his head as he slid the chair underneath the table. He bowed to the three pokemon trainers and turned to leave, but stopped when he heard one of the chairs slide as well. Turning around, Itachi saw Tanner standing up, confidence in his eyes.

"Lets have a battle!" Itachi furrowed a brow, but remained silent. "If I ever want to catch a legendary pokemon then I'll eventually have to battle one! This is the perfect opportunity to practice what it's going to be like in the future!" Itachi frowned and shook his head as he walked away. "Wait!" The silent pokemon waved his hand over his shoulder as he walked away. Tanner's hands turned into fists as he watched the 'boy' walk away. "Is it because you think I'm not strong enough? That my pokemon are too weak?" He was saying it more to himself than to anyone else, but both Mei and Jim frowned at his words. It became apparent to Itachi that Tanner didn't like being mocked, or seen as inferior, simply based on the flip of personality when the greninja ignored the boy's request to a battle.

"Leave him be Tanner. I kind of forced him to come with me so he probably has somewhere to be anyways." Jim said, Tanner was staring intently at Itachi's back until he disappeared around the corner of a building, down one of Altomare's endless alleyways. Tanner turned to Jim, fire burning brightly in his eyes as he did so.

"Where was that training ground that you found earlier?" Jim grinned at the determination Tanner was giving off.

"Yeah, follow me."

 **XxXxX**

Itachi looked down at his hands as he walked through an empty alley. 'Tricking them was easy enough, but that Tanner kid…' Shaking his head, the black greninja stopped in his tracks. Looking over his shoulder, a familiar sight met his eyes. A girl with pink hair stood behind him, a rather solemn look adored his features.

"Sorry…"

"…"

"Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sor-."

"Emilia." The girl stopped her coos, and looked up at Itachi. "It's fine."

"But I'm the reason you had to talk to those trainers. You could have been caught if they learned who you were." Emilia looked away in shame.

"But they didn't, now did they?" Emilia shook her head, but her eyes remained fixated on the ground making the water pokemon sigh.

"But what if they-." Emilia began, but stopped when two fingers poked the center of her forehead. The young legendary looked up at Itachi in question, only to see a smirk adorning his features.

"Relax Emilia. Those trainers didn't find out, and I even got a free lunch out of it." Itachi said as he began walking away. "Now lets go get some ice cream from one of those vendors. I could go for some dessert."

Emilia didn't move for a moment, but then a small smile spread across her face as Itachi was walking away. "Sounds great! We'll grab some money from one of the fountains!" Emilia said as she caught up to the retreating Uchiha.

 **XxXxX**

 **AN:** Here's the next chapter to the story. I hope you all like it. There isn't as much action in these chapters, but there's a certain appeal to just writing these sort of chapters, you know? It's sort of relaxing.

Anyway I hope you all continue reading my stories, and as always I love every one of you.


	7. The Curtain Rises

**XxXxX**

"Use Magical Leaf Gardevoir!" A girl shouted. Purple coated leaves appeared around the green and white pokemon before swiftly shooting towards her opponent.

"Dodge and use Gyro Ball!" A male trainer exclaimed to his Hitmontop. Itachi watched from the sidelines as two trainers went head to head in a surprisingly close battle. Several others also crowded around the arena to watch the spectacle as well. The Uchiha has found these pokemon battles to be interesting, to say the least. It pushed both the trainer and pokemon alike to their absolute limit, and the victor was the stronger of the two teams. Either through sheer strength, or careful planning, the victor would always prove themselves at the end of each battle.

Over the last few days, when Itachi wasn't training with Hannah, the Greninja has been watching random pokemon battles that would pop up every now and again throughout the city. It gave him a perspective on how battling worked, and what the trainers were trying to achieve by throwing themselves at each other. It wasn't to harm one another, but for them, along with their pokemon, to become stronger than their opponent. A tournament was held at the end of each season called the Pokemon League, and the only way to enter said tournament was to defeat eight gym leaders in their respective regions. After defeating the gym leaders, they are awarded badges and are admitted into the region's most luxurious tournament.

'What day was it?' Itachi thought to himself as he watched the pokemon battle ensue. 'Friday? This festival isn't going to last for much longer.' Hitmontop looked to be pushed back somewhat, but his trainer, simply based on the look in his eyes, had a few more tricks up his sleeve. 'Sunday is the day for the Contest, and Saturday is the night of the fireworks.' Something then pulled on Itachi's sleeve, making him look over to see a brown haired girl with a green shirt and white skirt. "…?" The illusion covered Greninja knew who it was, but was still confused as to how he was found. " _Did you need something, Latias_?" She shook her head and smiled before sending her gaze to the intense battle before them.

Gardevoir ended up winning the battle, but for a pokemon with a severe type disadvantage Hitmontop performed very well. Everyone that was watching the battle began clapping, much to the two trainer's surprise, even Latias began clapping. They must not have noticed the crowd that had formed around them. "Is there something you needed?" Itachi asked as the two moved away from the group of people and into one of Altomare's many quiet streets.

"No, I just wanted to see what you were doing." Latias said as the two moved slowly down the street.

"Found some time away from your protective duties?"

The legendary sighed at his words before looking up into the air. "A little, yeah. I never thought that becoming the sole Guardian of Altomare would be so hard. Before I had my brother, but now…" Latias shook her head at the thought that came to her mind.

"…" Itachi has always been good at reading people, and apparently pokemon as well, but he didn't need any of his deductive skills to see that her brother was a touchy subject.

"At least I have my Uncle and two nieces. Without them I would have been completely lost. They came to Altomare right when they heard what happened."

"I'm happy you have such a caring family."

"Yeah, I'm pretty lucky to have them. I can't even begin to understand how people make it without a family." Latias stated with a massive smile, but Itachi was internally frowning. Should he tell her that he killed off his entire clan? That he had no more family outside of his brother who wanted to kill him for what he did? "What about your family? Do you know where they are?"

More than you can possibly believe… "No." Itachi lied, making the legendary frown at his words.

"I'm sorry to hear that, but you'll find them eventually. I'm sure they're looking for you right now!" Latias said with an upbeat attitude. Itachi's eyes grew colder with each passing word.

"Is that right…?" Itachi lazily remarked, making the concealed Latias look at him in curiosity.

"In any case I wanted to ask if you had any plans tomorrow night?" Latias asked, changing the direction of the conversation to something a little more lighthearted.

"Not that I know of." Itachi replied as they turned onto a rather busy street. The two stopped and backed up into the smaller street.

"Well, if you don't have any plans would you like to come see the fireworks with us?!" Latias asked in excitement. "We were planning to meet a couple of hours before the fireworks to enjoy the festival one last time." Itachi stared at the legendary for a while, making her squirm somewhat under his intense gaze. "I-If you don't want t-to then-."

"Sure." Latias stared at the stoic greninja for a moment.

"W-What?"

"Sure, I'll go see the fireworks."

"Oh… that's what I thought you said." Latias said as the two stopped on top of a small bridge going over a small canal.

"Did you expect me to say no?"

"Well… I mean… kind of?" Latias looked towards Itachi, whose eyes demanded an explanation. "It's just I haven't really had that much time lately to spend with you. Even after I asked you to stay here with me."

"Your family has been keeping me pretty busy though."

"I know that, but with my brother not around I've found that guarding the city while also training another to do so is hard. Before, I never noticed just how much work it was to keep this place from falling apart."

"It must be hard." Itachi commented as the concealed Latias leaned against the railing of the bridge.

"Yeah, well what can you do? No more time to play anymore. We've all got to grow up sometime, right?" Itachi saw the far off look she was giving as a gondola slowly passed beneath them.

"I guess you're right..." Itachi replied softly. The far off voices of laughter, coupled with the lapping water against the stone canals made for a very serine atmosphere, but Latias looked tired. Being the protector of many is a massive burden, and only those with strong enough shoulders can bare it. Latias sighed and shook her head, as if to shake away the feeling that had overtaken her.

"In any case I've got to get back to my duties. I need to check on something on the south side of the city." Latias commented as she lifted herself from the railing. "Thanks for taking the time to talk. It's hard sometimes to talk about lost family members."

'You have no idea…' Itachi nodded his head as Latias walked down the steps on one side of the small bridge. "What time tomorrow?"

"Lets aim for seven in the afternoon. That should give us plenty of time before the fireworks begin." Latias commented as she walked away. "See you tomorrow."

"Bye." Itachi said quietly as Latias transformed into her pokemon form and subsequently disappeared using her invisibility. A soft wind swept through the small canal, pressing against his being like an angel from above was flying pass. Taking in the every moment that he could, Itachi breathed in heavily before looking over his shoulder. " _It's not nice to eavesdrop_." A boom of laughter erupted from the alleyway behind him. A massive man wearing clothes similar to the people that attacked the Uchiha in Cherrygrove walked out from the cover of the shade. He must have been at least two meters tall with broad shoulders and a scar running across the right side of his mouth.

"Of course it isn't, but I've found it interesting to watch you interact with other pokemon. Especially one as powerful as a Latias." The man commented as he tipped back his fedora to reveal vibrant green eyes and dark tan skin. He must have heard the cooing coming from Latias as we talked to one another. "Although I admit I couldn't understand a word you two were saying."

" _Who are you? Are you with the people that attacked me before?_ "

"The name's Jamison, but people call me Jay for short." Jay said as he fiddled with something inside the folding of his trench coat. Presumably a pokeball. "As for the second question the answer is yes." Itachi began to slip into a defensive stance, but the man raised his hands defensively. "Hold on there HY01, no need to get all twitchy on me. I'm not here to fight, just to deliver a message."

" _And that would be?_ "

"The boss man doesn't really appreciate the fact that you killed one of our boys."

" _Then he shouldn't have had them attack me_." It was an accident. Itachi never meant for someone to die during that engagement, but things spiraled out of control.

"Very true, but it is what it is." Jay stated as he looked up to see a flock of Wingull flying overhead. The massive man sighed and looked back down towards the concealed pokemon. "He's giving you this ultimatum. Leave here and come with us, or we will return this floating city to which it came." Nodding his head at the boy's shocked expression, Jay turned to leave. "You have until 1900 hours tomorrow to reply. I'll be waiting at the North Guardian Fountain. I hope you choose wisely." With those final words the man disappeared around the corner of a building.

Itachi looked to the ground in thought. What should he do?

 **XxXxX**

"So what did Itachi say?!" Emila asked as she shot over to Latias. It was nine in the evening and the guardian has had a long day. Apparently a Seaking got stuck in one of the wooden supports underneath the city and needed help. It took her nearly all day to free the pokemon from the stranglehold, and once she finally freed him she had to take the pokemon to a healing facility. Needless to say, Latias was exhausted. Luckily she had Otto overseeing some of the more rudimentary tasks that she didn't have time for today.

"Oh, hello Emilia, Hannah." Latias said, but Hannah only groaned. "Hard day of training?"

"Yeah, I went a little overboard today." Hannah commented. 'What got Itachi so worked up today?'

"Quit dodging the question!" Emilia exclaimed.

"Right, right. Itachi said he'd join us. Calm yourself down." Latias said, but could only smile as Emilia twirled around in the air in glee. She would have done the same if she wasn't so exhausted.

"Okay everyone lets get to bed. We'll meet up with Itachi tomorrow." Otto said as he helped Hannah up. "The sooner you get to bed, the faster tomorrow will come."

"Yes father…" Emilia said with a sad expression as she floated towards their bed in the back of the garden. After the two younglings were in bed, Otto came back to see Latias staring up at the ceiling of the garden.

"Something wrong?" Otto asked.

"It's… I don't know. Something feels wrong." Latias responded.

"Wrong? What do you mean?" Otto was old enough to know that when a pokemon, especially a legendary, felt something was off there was generally a good reason for it.

"It's like…" Latias sighed and shook her head. "I don't know. Maybe I'm tired."

"Right you are. Lets go bed and think about it when we're both rested." Otto said, gaining a smile from the Latias.

"Yeah, you're probably right. Lets get to bed."

 **XxXxX**

Itachi quietly entered the house that Bianca and Lorenzo were so kind as to let him stay in. The house was dark and quiet besides sound of water softly pressing the side of the house. Itachi dropped his cover and took another step into the house when someone called out to him.

"Busy day?" It was Lorenzo. He was sitting at the wooden table drinking a hot cup of tea like he normally did. It was about eleven in the evening, and normally he was fast asleep by this time. Over the course of his stay here, one of the best moments he had was cooking with Bianca. She was so interested in all the meals that he cooked that she began taking notes. He had finally found someone that was as interested in cooking as himself.

" _You could say that_." Itachi said as Lorenzo poured the Greninja a cup of hot tea as well. Itachi sat down and cradled the hot cup in his web like hands, waiting for it to cool down before taking a sip. The older man lit a small oil lamp at the center of the table to give them some light.

"Want to talk about it?" Lorenzo asked. Normally the answer is no, or he would remain quiet after being asked, but now…

" _I wanted to thank you_." Lorenzo furrowed a brow at this.

"What for?"

" _For the kindness that you've shown. For taking me in while I stayed here. For treating me like… family_." Itachi choked out that last word. It was hard for him to accept being a part of a family after what he did to his last one. He shouldn't have been allowed this, but here he was.

It was clear to Lorenzo that the concept of family was hard for the pokemon to accept, but why was that? "Of course my boy. You will always be part of this family, no matter what." The elder man took a sip of his tea, but eyed the pokemon after he was done. "But that's not the only thing that's troubling you. Is it?"

" _No, it's not_." Lorenzo didn't speak, simply waiting for Itachi to continue if he so desired it. " _You know I'm not a normal pokemon, right?_ "

"That much I could find out on my own. I've seen what a normal Greninja is when they appear on television competing for the Kalos League, and you're nothing like those." Lorenzo said.

" _I was created in a lab by scientists_." Itachi said. Lorenzo looked shocked when the words left his mouth. " _When I woke up everything had been destroyed. I don't know what happened before I came to, but there was evidence of a fierce battle."_

"You must have been so confused." Lorenzo said.

" _You could say that…_ " Itachi said before taking a sip from his mug. " _Since then I've been traveling around, trying to explore this new world and discover my purpose in it."_

"It's the best thing you could be doing. We all have to travel that very same road that you're taking."

" _Unfortunately, while I was traveling I found the people that created me."_

"Oh? What did they want?"

" _They wanted to kill me._ "

"W-What?"

" _If they were to kill me then all information regarding my creation would be completely gone."_

"How did they find you? You can change into anyone and any pokemon!"

" _A tracker was embedded into my body. Anywhere I went, they would eventually find me."_

"So what did you do?"

" _I confronted them in Cherrygrove. After fighting them, I finally was able to remove the tracker from my hip and board a ship leading here."_

"So that wound in your hip…?"

" _Was from when I gouged out the tracker, yes."_

"And the person and pokemon that was killed in Cherrygrove…?" Itachi sighed and leaned back into his chair.

" _It was a result of the battle."_ Lorenzo remained quiet for a moment, as if to consume all that was given to him.

"Why did you have to kill them?"

" _It was an accident."_

"How could blowing someone up be an accident? You killed a man and his pokemon! Even if they were sent to kill you…"

" _The tracker that was placed inside me coupled as a bomb. When I removed it I left it next to them when I knocked them unconscious. The only reason I was actually able to remove it was because one of the two men wanted to catch me rather than kill me._ "

"And you didn't know it was a bomb?"

" _Not until after it was detonated, no."_

Lorenzo thought over the words another moment before sighing and leaning back into his chair as well. "That's one fine mess that you're in." Itachi simply nodded his head before taking another sip of his tea. "Are these people still after you?"

" _Yes, and it's only a matter of time before they learn where I've been hiding."_

"Are we in danger?"

" _Not after tonight, no."_

"What do you mean?"

" _I was approached by one of the people that attacked me._ " Lorenzo pushed his hands into his face while a groan escaped his lips.

"What did they say?"

" _They said either give myself up, or they'll destroy the city._ "

"Destroy the- how in the world are they going to do that?!"

" _I'm not sure, but they're certainly threatening it. Even if it's an empty threat I need to take it seriously. "_ Itachi said. An uneasy quiet washed over the two as they thought of any possible way Itachi could get himself out of this situation. " _In any case I just wanted to come by and say thank you… for everything."_

"If that's what you think is best. If you need anything, and I mean anything, don't hesitate to come and ask." Lorenzo said.

" _Thank you. Would you tell-."_

"I'll handle Bianca. You just focus on the task at hand." Itachi nodded his head in thanks as he stood up. Staying any longer would only put this wonderful family in danger, and the Uchiha didn't want that. He would handle this situation by himself, just like he always has. As Itachi reached for the door Lorenzo stopped him with one last word of advice. "Just remember, even if there's two roads open to you a third can always be opened if you look hard enough."

" _I'll remember that and don't worry. Nothing will become of this city. I promise."_

"I'll hold you to that. See you on the other side." Itachi grinned and closed the door, but once it was closed Itachi frowned. He knew what he had to do, but the Uchiha knew that the others weren't going to like it…

 **XxXxX-The Following Evening**

"We're going to see the fireworks! We're going to see the fireworks! We're going to-!" Emilia continued chanting until a claw knocked her over the head. "Hey! What was that for?!"

"Shut up. My head still hurts from yesterday." Hannah said.

"Well whose fault is that?!"

"Please, just be quiet."

"And who's going to make me?!"

"I'll make you if you don't-!"

"Quiet you two. We're about to change into our human forms. So be ready." Otto said.

"Please be careful. I don't want anyone of you to be captured because you were too excited." Latias said. Emilia immediately clammed up, much to their surprise. After a few moments of flying while invisible the four transformed into their human forms in a desolate alleyway.

" _We've still got a couple minutes before we meet Bianca, Itachi, and Lorenzo at the courtyard in front of the museum. So we can take our-."_ Otto said, but Emilia ran out in front of the group.

" _I'm going to get there first!_ " Emilia exclaimed, making the others sweat drop.

" _Wait up for us!_ " Latias shouted after her as she ran after the excited twin. The other two begrudgingly ran after them, never seeing the quiet black hooded boy watching them from in between the gaps of the crowd. Without a word the boy watched them run down the street, like any happy family would, before he turned and walked north.

Slowly the crowds began to thin out until there wasn't a soul to be seen. All the action, it would seem, was concentrated at the center and southern parts of the city. Everywhere else was nearly dead. Finally the boy made it to his final destination. A small courtyard that he was very familiar with.

"Glad to see that you've made it! I was worried that you got lost on the way." Jay said with a sly grin. Itachi didn't respond as he walked into the courtyard and over to one of the benches that surrounded the fountain. "Have you made a decision?"

" _Did you know that I almost died here?"_ Itachi asked, dodging the question entirely. Jay remained quiet as the now uncloaked pokemon ran his webbed hand across the back of one of the benches. " _It was right here, in the heavy rain, that I should have died. After gouging out the bomb from my body, I had lost so much blood that I couldn't go on. It was because of the kindness that Latias showed me that I'm still breathing."_ Itachi finished walking behind the bench and looked up at the man, who was still watching quietly as the pokemon explained what happened. " _I know what you're after, and I won't let you take it."_

"Oh? So you're going to resist? That's a bad call because we already have men converging on the 'Secret Garden' now. We've been doing research into this place, and even hacked a 'certain' organizations database to figure out where it is. Without the Soul Dew this place will be washed away in a massive tidal wave, and there's nothing you can do about it."

" _Is that right? Well, that's one thing you've got wrong."_

"And why's that? How are you going to get there before us?"

" _Because, I was never really here to begin with_." Itachi stated before disappearing into smoke. Jay balled up his hands and ripped a radio out of his trench coat. He should have suspected that HY01 would have retreated when he was telling his story.

"All units this is Prophet. Ghost is moving towards Tear. I repeat, Ghost is moving towards Tear. Do not let him get there first. Over." Jay said before lowering his radio and looking east. "We will capture you HY01. No matter how long it takes. Your power will be ours."

 **XxXxX**

" _He's still not here yet."_ Hannah commented while taking another look around. The four legendary pokemon had finally found Lorenzo and Bianca, but Itachi was nowhere to be found. The two had said that they thought he was with them, but after hearing that he wasn't Bianca began to worry that he wasn't going to come.

" _I know, but he told me that he'd be here._ " Latias said as she too was looking around in worry. There was something wrong going on, and it wasn't just that Itachi may have decided not to come. It was at this moment that an alarm triggered in her mind. " _Otto_." The legendary looked to Latias and nodded. He felt it too. Someone had entered the Secret Garden with malicious intent.

"What's wrong?" Bianca asked. The serious look Latias was giving off was beginning to worry them.

" _Otto and I need to head back to the Garden. Someone entered it and may tamper with the Soul Dew. Hannah, Emilia, watch Bianca and Lorenzo for us. Make sure nothing happens to them. Lets go Otto_." Latias said, gaining a nod from her elder. The two ran off leaving a worried foursome behind.

 **XxXxX**

"We've entered the Secret Garden. Moving towards the Tear now." A woman said into a radio as a group of seven similarly garbed people entered the Secret Garden. They moved slowly and with caution. They had no idea if the Guardian was here, or if HY01 was waiting in the shadows.

"Do you think that HY01 made it here by now?" One of the cloaked men asked.

"How about you shut your mouth and listen. HY01 isn't the only one we've got to worry about." The woman said. The man cursed under his breath before listening for anything that could be out of place. Slowly they made it to the pedestal, but when they finally made it to the where the Soul Dew should be they were met with an empty pedestal.

"Shouldn't the Soul Dew be here?" The man from earlier asked aloud.

"Shit, HY01 must have got here before us." The woman said.

" _Looking for this?_ " A voice said from the tree above. Looking up a black Greninja stood in a tree holding a glowing rock in his hand.

"It's HY01!" One of the cloaked figures shouted. Just as he said this seven pokemon were released in front of their respective trainers.

"You give us that rock right now." The woman demanded, her Raichu sparking with electricity as she said this.

" _Then come take it._ " Itachi replied. Ten greninjas appeared around him, all holding a separate Soul Dew as well. " _That is, if you figure out which one is the real Soul Dew_." With that the ten Itachi's dashed towards the exit.

"Use Thunderbolt!" The woman shouted to her Raichu. The pokemon obliged and fired off his attack. It narrowly missed the illusions as they all disappeared through the exit. The woman growled as she turned to her subordinates in anger. "Everyone! Chase after him! Take out each one until you find the real one!" Everyone saluted before running out the door with their respective pokemon. "This is Team Mary, Ghost has obtained the Tear. I repeat Ghost has obtain the Tear. Team Mary is giving chase now. Over."

"Roger that Team Mary. We're sending reinforcements now. Over." A burly voice said over the radio.

"Roger. Tell them that Ghost has made illusions of himself and are scattering across the northern and eastern parts of the city. Over."

"Will do. Corner him and don't let Ghost escape. Remember what the real objective is here. Over."

"We won't let him escape again Leader. Over."

 **XxXxX**

Silently shooting through the darkening evening sky, Otto and Latias made their way towards the northern part of the city where the home of the Soul Dew rested. As they sped through the air something caught Latias's eye. "Wait!" Latias came to an abrupt stop with Otto nearly smacking into her back.

"Why did we stop?" Otto asked.

"Look. Is that?" Latias questioned when they saw a Pidgeot with a man riding on top swiftly chasing a black pokemon across the roof tops. "It's Itachi!"

"But what about the Soul Dew?" Otto questioned. It was clear to them that he was being chased by the pair, but why? And for what purpose?

Latias thought about it for a moment, but nodded her head in conclusion. "You go to the garden. I'll go after Itachi. After I'm done I'll meet back up with you." Otto nodded his head as well and disappeared once again to go to the garden. Turning back towards the chase, Latias shot towards the retreating pair. It amazed her when she saw the moves that Itachi was preforming to dodge and trick the obviously faster bird pokemon, but once she got closer to them, the invisible legendary could hear what the human was shouting.

"Give us that stupid rock! You can't run forever!" The man shouted as the two pursuers shot down towards Itachi, only for him to narrowly dodge once again by using a row of white sheets to disorient the larger bird. "Stop moving you little-!" He was never able to finish his statement as a purple fire smashed into the side of his massive bird. The man fell from his companion and tumbled across the roof of the building. "Pidgeot! Are you okay?!" The bird pokemon was busy nursing his wing before it could answer with a loud caw. "Good. Now who in the-." His eyes finally landed what was had attacked them. He remained perfectly still as he looked at the floating red and white eon dragon. "A-A Latias…" He remained awestruck before finally growling and running towards his Pidgeot, who had just finished nursing his wing. "Lets move Pidgeot! This one is probably a fake anyway!" With that he hoped onto his bird and flew away.

Latias watched as they retreated from the roof before turning to Itachi who watched on in silence. "What is going on here Itachi? Why were they chasing you and what did he mean that you could be fake?" The Greninja remained quiet as he simply stared back at the legendary. Something was obviously wrong with him, but what? "Itachi?" The Greninja then revealed what was he was clutching within his grasp. "The Soul Dew?! What are you doing with it?! Do you have any idea what you've done?!" Latias quickly went to grab the rock, but when her claw touched the Soul Dew it passed right through. "Wait. An illusion?" Itachi nodded his head as the Soul Dew disappeared from his hand.

Latias couldn't even fathom what was going on. He was fake, that much she could figure out, but why was he holding the Soul Dew? Did that mean that the actual Soul Dew was with the real Itachi? If so then why did he take it in the first place, and why were these people chasing him? Did he take it because he was trying to keep it away from them? Or was there something else going on behind the scenes?

"Itachi, what is going on?" The black greninja never responded before he dissipated into a mist of black. Clenching her claws in a mixture of confusion and frustration, Latias took to the skies once again. She needed to find the real Itachi because if he did indeed have the Soul Dew then it needed to be returned before it was too late.

 **XxXxX**

Itachi moved through the streets of Altomare as stealthily as possible, the last remaining light aiding him in his attempts to stay hidden from his pursuers. The lights that came from the various windows along the street felt like spotlights on the roads as Itachi weaved around them like they would burn him if he was touched by their light. Looking down at the glowing rock in his hand, the pokemon did his best to cover up its glowing aura so nobody could see. Sliding into a rather dark alleyway, Itachi saw a Fearow fly overhead, scanning the street he was once on for any form of movement. Once in the clear, Itachi resumed his stealthy march towards the northern part of the city. There wasn't a single soul in this part of the town as the fireworks, and most of the festival for that matter, was based in the southern end.

Finally reaching his destination, Itachi looked over the large pokemon arena in satisfaction. On three ends were two to three story buildings while on the final side was the open ocean. The Uchiha could hear the waves softly pressing against the stone that made up the edge of the city. This was one of his favorite arenas in the city because it had such a beautiful view of the ocean.

"Looks like you don't feel like hiding then, HY01." A voice behind him said. A Fearow sat perched on the edge of one of the roofs of the buildings with its trainer standing to it. Jay walked out of the shadows of the street and into the light. The sun had already set behind the horizon and the only light came from the full moon that sent its rays down onto the battlefield. "Those illusions of yours are rather powerful, aren't they? You must have spent some time setting it up for them to go so far away from you." The large man chuckled at Itachi's stoic visage. "So you really plan to fight then?"

" _I don't think you two will be able to defeat me_." Itachi commented as he turned fully towards Jay, who shrugged his shoulders at the comment.

"That's very true. Defeating you by ourselves would be dumb since your power level is on that of a legendary, but that's why there are many of us." Jay said as more people walked out of the shadows of the surrounding streets. Itachi counted twenty four other trainers all wearing the same trench coat and hat as Jay. Various pokemon stood next to their trainers, all ready to attack at a moment's notice. "We've got you surrounded HY01. Now drop the Soul Dew and come with us. There's no escaping this time. No ship to retreat to and nobody to help you. You're alone." Itachi glanced around at all the pokemon before closing his eyes in consecration. Jay growled at how long Itachi was taking before reaching into his coat and releasing his own pokemon, a Blastoise from what Itachi could hear.

" _I think I'll have to refuse that offer._ " Itachi said, making Jay growl even louder.

"Fine, your funeral. Blastoise! Use Hydro Pump!" The turtle pokemon complied and fired two massive blasts of water at the much smaller frog. Itachi, just as the water was about to touch him, slid out of the way of the attack with ease. "How did he dodge without even opening his eyes?"

" _If you truly want to take me with you then you'll have to force me._ " Itachi commented before opening his eyes to reveal two glowing crimson eyes staring back at him. Three black markings were etched around his eyes as he stared back at Jay, who hesitated at the sight.

"W-Whatever! We've still got the numbers advantage! Everyone, attack him!" Jay shouted. The others complied, ordering their pokemon to attack the lone Greninja. Even if they didn't know what was happening with the Uchiha's eyes, they still held power in numbers and many of the pokemon, along with their trainers, here were actually pretty powerful.

Itachi's eyes went into overdrive as he scanned each and every pokemon as their trainers ordered them to use separate moves. A purple ball, along with a torrent of fire, was shot towards him from two different angles. The Sharingan read each attack and told Itachi to move into a position that would send both flying passed him without hurting him at all. After said attacks went flying by three more were then coming towards him from the now crowded pokemon arena. Slipping past these attacks as well, Itachi began to cover himself, along with the area at his feet, in a black mist. This made any more attacks sent towards him harder to land while also allowing Itachi to counterattack.

Once the mist was in place Itachi dropped the Soul Dew to the ground and began firing off water kunai at the nearest pokemon. Prioritizing the pokemon that were closest and ones that were preparing powerful looking attacks, Itachi's Sharingan continued to scan each and every pokemon in the area. From the outside looking in, one could only see a swirling black mist with glowing red piercing eyes spinning around rapidly. Water kunai were being shot out of the mist towards any pokemon that attacked at a very rapid pace, forcing them to either dodge or be hit by the attack. Ranged attacks seemed to work best, but they couldn't tell if their attacks were landing or not. If one could see inside the dark cloud then you would see an elaborate dance as swift and beautiful as the ocean waves. Dodging two or three attacks while shooting two water kunai in opposite directions.

A Pidgeot shot towards the mist in an attempt to land a Wing Attack. Dodging the three water kunai that was sent towards him in response to this attack, the bird swept through the mist, but never hit anything. "Use Ice Beam Mamoswine!" One of the trainers shouted to his large brown pokemon. As the Mamoswine began charging up his attack, five kunai shot out of the mist towards the large burly pokemon, but just as the attack was about to land a Kadabra jumped in front of his comrade.

"Protect!" Another trainer shouted as a shield appeared before the yellow spoon wielding pokemon, deflecting the water weapons away. Once the attack had been defended, the Mamoswine fired its Ice Beam towards the smoke. Just as the attack landed, Itachi could be seen jumping backwards out of the smoke and sliding to a stop several meters away with the Soul Dew in his hand. A wall of ice then split the mist in half, confirming that Itachi could no longer use that illusion any longer. The attacks stopped for a moment, allowing everyone to recollect themselves from the battle that had taken place and prepare their next move. Most were licking their wounds, while the others positioned themselves in defensive positions in order to protect their wounded friends.

"I'm surprised HY01! To be able to move and attack twenty four pokemon all at the same time. The boss was right about you." Jay commended. The greninja never responded as he continued to scan each of the pokemon that now surrounded him. "You truly do have the power of a legendary pokemon. If that's the case then we're going to have to add even more numbers behind us if we're to win. Everyone! Release your final pokemon!" Itachi watched as twenty four more beams of light appeared around him. This just got much more difficult…

"Itachi!" A resounding 'coo' interrupted Jay's next command to attack. Everyone looked up to see a red and white eon dragon hovering above the large arena.

"I-Is that the Guardian of Altomare?" One of the soldiers asked aloud, but nobody answered his open ended question. Was she here because of the battle that was taking place, or because HY01 held the Soul Dew?

"Itachi, what is going on?" Latias asked as she floated towards the surrounded greninja. Itachi stared back at the female dragon with that always emotionless expression adorning his face. In his hand, though, was the very thing that could cause the destruction of her beloved city. "These people… what are they here for?"

"They're here because of me." Itachi said as he looked towards Jay, then the surrounding trainers as well. "Latias I want to tell you something. Something very important about me." Itachi's grip on the Soul Dew tightened as he turned and looked directly into her eyes with the Sharingan blazing. The legendary was shocked by the Uchiha's change in eye color, but pushed it to the side for now. "I was created in a lab. Scientifically made by humans to be their silent killing machine. To assassinate those that would stand against whoever these people are." The Latias's eyes widened when she heard this, but Itachi was sure she suspected something was amiss about him. The way other wild pokemon approached him meant that something was hardwired into their instincts to pick out abnormal pokemon from the rest of their species.

"But… you're not a weapon for these people to control. You're Itachi. Not… HY01." Latias said softly, but nearly jumped back when she felt something was placed into her claws. A glowing blue rock sat inside her claws, forcing the eon dragon to look up at black pokemon. His eyes were back to their normal onyx black color and his face held a softer expression than normal.

"Take that back to the pedestal where it belongs. Make sure this city can still see the morning light." Itachi stated as he backed away from the dragon. Latias went to respond, but stopped herself. This very rock in her claws was her brother. Without being on the pedestal she knew that he was slowly losing the life force needed to sustain this city with calm water. Gripping onto the rock Latias looked to Itachi and hugged the greninja tightly.

"Don't you dare lose until I get back. Hold out until then… please." Latias whispered before shooting up into the air. With one last look back at Itachi, Latias disappeared from view. Said Uchiha softly smiled from underneath the veil of his scarf once the eon dragon disappeared from view. None of the enemy gave chase because their real objective was already surrounded.

"How touching! I had no idea that the Guardian of Altomare cared so much for you. We could have used her if we knew that!" Jay said as the now Charizard and Blastoise stood next to their trainer. Itachi's expression fell back into its emotionless visage as he closed his eyes and breathed in deeply. He was now against forty eight pokemon. Some of them are wounded from their earlier skirmish, but nonetheless daunting. Exhaling his breath, Itachi opened his eyes once again to reveal the crimson red Sharingan blazing in his eyes. Two water kunai formed in his hands as he stared directly at Jay, who took a step back at those glowing red eyes.

A soft wind passed over the arena, making Itachi's scarf flow in the wind behind him. The tension was thick as the two parties waited for a moment for the other to make a move. Finally the first move was made when Itachi dissolved into mist. "Wha- where is he?!" A trainer shouted, but his answer came when the black greninja appeared above Jay's Charizard, the Sharingan spinning wildly in his eyes.

 **XxXxX**

Latias was desperately making her way towards the Secret Garden. She needed to place the Soul Dew back onto the pedestal before the water completely stopped flowing throughout the city. It has been at least ten minutes since she left Itachi to the horde of pokemon that wished to do him harm. "Latias!" Said Latias stopped and looked around until finally spotting the source of the voice.

"Otto!" Latias replied, but never stopped her brisk movement. The Latios turned and fell into the same speed as his niece. "Was there anyone in the Secret Garden?"

"No, and… is that the Soul Dew?" Otto questioned, making Latias look at him in confusion.

"Of course it is. Itachi just gave it to me."

"Because the Soul Dew was still in the pedestal when I arrived. Nothing looked out of place besides a burn mark near the door." The Latias stopped her flight and looked down at the glowing rock in her claws. It did feel lighter than she would have expected. Lifting the rock up to her face, it was only then that she realized that it had no weight at all. Was this…?

Just this thought passed through her mind the rock burst into smoke. "An illusion? What's going on?"

"Itachi must have tricked the people that made it inside the garden that he took the Soul Dew." Otto thought aloud.

"So he never actually removed the Soul Dew from the pedestal? It's still in the pool?" Latias asked.

"It was when I went there, yes. Everything was as it should be." Otto said. "I knew Itachi had an affinity towards illusions, but to use them so fluently, and as a Greninja no less…"

"That doesn't matter! If everything is fine then I need to get back and help Itachi!" Latias exclaimed before turning towards where she had just came from.

"Wait! What's going on?" Otto asked, stopping the Latias before she could shoot off again.

"Itachi's in trouble. People are here to capture him and use him as a weapon. I don't know, it's kind of hard to explain, but we need to help!" Latias exclaimed.

"But what about the Soul Dew? What if someone tries to go for it again?" Otto asked. "It's our job to protect the city from danger, and as much as I would love to go out and fight for Itachi's safety, protecting the city comes first. Isn't that what you told me?" Latias curled up her claws into fists as she looked out to where the massive battle was taking place. She knew her elder was right, that the Soul Dew for this city was the key to protecting it as a whole, but her friend was in danger. Her first friend in a long time was about to be abducted by dangerous men for purposes that scared her deeply, but her duty as the Guardian of Altomare kept her from doing so. What if more people were sent to take the Soul Dew and force Itachi to bend to their will? While Itachi was stoic, he had a large heart and would probably give himself freely to protect this city.

"I know it's just…" Latias shook her head and looked to Otto in determination. A look he hasn't seen since he last saw his sister-in-law. "I'm going to help my friend. You head back to the garden and make sure the Soul Dew stays protected." With that Latias turned and shot off towards the north side of the city. Otto watched as she left with a small smile creeping up onto his face.

'She's just like your wife, brother. Unrelenting when it comes to things she wants to protect. Good luck Latias. Keep him safe.'

 **XxXxX**

"I can't hit him! He's too fast!" One of the trainers shouted as a black ball smashed into his Steelix, making the massive pokemon fall to the ground. The steel worm was knocked unconscious from the Shadow Ball, making the man rip his pokeball from his belt and return his pokemon.

Itachi jumped backwards as a ball of electricity smashed into the ground where he once was. Swiping the sweat from his brow, the Uchiha looked around him at each of his opponents. 'Twenty three down, twenty five more to go.' Itachi straightened his back as he prepared for another onslaught of attacks. Creating another wall of illusions, the Uchiha dashed towards the nearest pokemon, which happened to be the Mamoswine from earlier. His primary defense has been a mixture of illusions and chaos by surrounding himself in an illusion that looked like he was lagging behind by a second. A simple illusion, but when went unnoticed it can be extremely effective and consume much less energy because it made ranged attacks extremely hard to hit preciously. Itachi would even send out a few illusions of himself attacking different areas of the small army that has gathered to further confuse the enemy. The chaos that came with the number of enemies was becoming a benefit to Itachi's fighting style. Pokemon were too afraid to fire off their extremely powerful attacks because of possible friendly fire while also being unsure of which illusion was the real one.

"Use Ice Beam on that one Mamoswine!" His trainer exclaimed as the large pokemon fired off a quick beam of bright blue light towards the swift Greninja, but Itachi weaved his way around the bright beam of ice with a water kunai in one of his hands. Finally making it to his intended target, Itachi jumped up into the air and brought the water kunai down upon the large pokemon. Not allowing the pokemon time to recover, the Uchiha fired a Shadow Ball directly into the Mamoswine's chest. "Mamoswine!" His trainer exclaimed in worry, but the pokemon was on the ground unconscious from the attack.

Turning as fast as he could, Itachi just managed to deflect a water shuriken sent from amidst the chaos that his illusions were creating. Another Greninja looked back at him in anger as another water shuriken formed in his hand. A silent challenge was sent towards Itachi as said Uchiha formed his own water kunai in his hand. The two dashed towards each other at break neck speeds, both sending out their weapons at one another. The water weapons smashed into one another, the kunai flying up into the air while the shuriken dissolved when it hit the ground. Sending a fist towards the blue Greninja's head, said pokemon ducked under the attack and formed two blades above each of his hands. The opposing Greninja looked up at Itachi with a smirk adoring his face, but he was met by a Hydro Pump coming out of the black Greninja's lips. Not able to dodge the point blank attack, while also not able to attack Itachi in time to stop the oncoming water barrage, the opposing Greninja brought up his arms to soften the blow.

Flying backwards from the attack, Itachi chased after the enemy greninja, but was forced to stop when a bright white beam smashed into his side. Not prepared for the attack, Itachi slid across the ground until finally coming to a stop near the water's edge. A Raticate looked at Itachi with a smoking mouth from where he used his Hyper Beam. Once the attack landed the illusions around the battlefield began to disappear as well, meaning he was the sole attention of the remaining twenty four pokemon. Jay walked out from the group of pokemon and people heavily sweating. "Finally managed to land an attack on you. See everyone! He's not invincible!" The others, however, all looked extremely tired. Both pokemon and human alike looked like they were about to drop to the ground. Only the strongest of the pokemon looked able to continue on, but the rest would if their trainer willed it. Even the Raticate, who landed the blow looked tired.

Itachi was no exception as well. This battle was becoming harder and harder with each passing moment. If the second volley of pokemon hadn't been made then he would have won by now, but forty eight on one? Breathing in heavily, Itachi thought over the options at hand. The longer this fight continued the more dangerous it became. Only half of the original remained, but there was no guarantee that more people would arrive with fresh pokemon. His left arm had been injured from that last Hyper Beam as well. Balling up his hands into fists as Itachi closed his eyes. 'Looks like there's no other option.'

"Lets finish this! Atta-!" Jay began to say, but stopped then the air around the arena became heavy. "What's… going on…?" Itachi slowly stood up from his kneeling position with his eyes still closed, his right arm hanging onto the injured left arm.

Once Itachi was completely ready, he opened his right eye to reveal a glowing red pinwheel. Blood flowed from his eye and stress could clearly be seen around the Uchiha's only open eye. It started at the far right side, where the first pokemon burst into black flames. Before anyone could react to the sudden outburst of black flames, both pokemon and human alike were covered in the black flames. They screamed and rolled over in an attempt to put out the fire. Some of them even jumped into the water, but this did not work as well. "Make it stop!" A woman shouted in the water. How could water not put out fire?

Nevertheless Itachi waited until his enemy was nearly done in before extinguishing the flames that covered his enemies. The arena was silent, smoke rose from those that were caught up in his Amaterasu. People and pokemon alike barely slid themselves up onto the shore of the city before falling unconscious like the rest. The drawback, however, came quickly as what felt like a hot metal pole was slid into his right eye. Closing said eye, Itachi opened his left to reveal a similar pinwheel design only not stressed and bleeding like his other. Although it didn't last long. His glowing crimson eyes disappeared and what replaced them was his normal onyx black eyes. His body felt drained, and his muscles sore. Even with all the training he underwent during his time here, Itachi could tell that this body was not created with the Mangekyou Sharingan in mind. He would need more training if he wanted to reduce the drawback that came along with these eyes.

" _ **What do we have here?**_ " A voice said, making the water pokemon look around in confusion. " _ **Are you the one that has been tugging at the corner of my mind for the last month?**_ " Itachi remained quiet as time seemed to freeze around him and the world became dim. A pair of bright red eyes appeared in front of him, staring the water pokemon down from the edge of the darkness. It looked to be a floating pair of red eyes that had a body of black smoke. " _ **Yes… you're perfect… your body, your personality, everything…**_ " The eyes danced around him, looking at everything it could feast its eyes on. " _ **You will be my harbinger.**_ "

"Who are you?" Itachi asked.

" _ **In due time my friend. Until we will meet again.**_ " The pair of eyes responded after finally stopping in front of him and disappearing. The dim scene around him disappeared with the red eyes, and time seemed to return to normal. Whoever that was seemed extremely interested in him…

But it would appear that Itachi didn't have time to contemplate his momentary victory. The water behind the black Greninja began to bow upwards until finally water exploded outwards, raining the liquid onto everyone that was in the arena. Was that a submarine? The metal object was nearly touching the edge of the city. A noise came from the top of the tall metal object that jutted out of the water that sounded like an elevator. After a few moments of waiting, a short burly man stood atop the tall metal spire with a massive grin on his face.

"So we finally meet HY01! It took us a while to get into position, but I've finally arrived." The man said. He had a massive blue beard and red ship captain garments. He held a wooden stick in his left hand, but it looked like he didn't really need it.

" _And you are_?" Itachi asked.

"Phantom, and I'm your owner. The one who poured the money and time into your creation. Grant it I thought you were killed off when those Rockets attacked the base." Phantom said. "So I reconsolidated my efforts… again, elsewhere. But what do you know! The thing that I created actually lived!"

" _You're the one that tried to have me killed_." Itachi said. Phantom crossed his arms and sighed.

"Unfortunately, yes. I ordered two of my best agents to finish scuttling the project on the bases that I thought you were a failure, but look at you! You're anything but a failure! Now I'm happy that my two agents failed in killing you!" Phantom exclaimed, a wide grin spreading across his face. "With you I can finally realize my dreams!"

" _And that would be_?" Itachi asked, but Phantom only laughed before jumping down to the cobbled stone arena. His impact cracked the stone beneath him as he straightened himself out.

"Now I can't go and reveal that now can I? Maybe when you submit to me then I'll tell you of my plans, but for now…" Phantom released three pokemon from their pokeballs, revealing an Alakazam, a Parasect, and a Claydol. These pokemon looked powerful, at least more powerful than the others. Phantom looked around at the arena and whistled at what he saw. "You really did a number on these poor folks. I'm surprised you beat them all!" Of course he was curious about how there was smoke coming off of them, but Itachi had enhanced illusions so anything was possible… "Lets begin, shall we? Alakazam, use Telekinesis on HY01! Parasect, Poison Powder! Claydol use Psybeam!"

Itachi suddenly felt his body stiffen and rise from the ground. Before Itachi could create an illusion a purple powder washed over him. The Uchiha squinted his eyes as said powder flowed over him, making his lungs and body burn from the inside. A multicolor beam smashed into his stomach, sending the black Greninja flying backwards until he came to a sliding halt.

"Perfect! Follow it up with Giga Drain!" The bug began charging up its attack, but was interrupted when a purple ball smashed into his side. Parasect slid backwards before looking at the offender. "Well, well, well! I was wondering when you'd show up!"

"So you're the one that's after Itachi." Latias said as she lowered herself down next to Itachi.

"The Guardian of Altomare. Now why would you come to the aid of a test tube pokemon such as this? Shouldn't you be protecting that dumb rock or whatever?" Phantom questioned.

"Are you okay?" Latias asked, but then she saw the dried blood that came from his left eye. "Your eye!"

"I'll be fine. You should be protecting the Soul Dew." Itachi responded.

"Otto is watching over the Soul Dew."

"And the others?"

"Hannah and Emilia are protecting Bianca and Lorenzo. Everyone is safe… except for you." Latias watched as Itachi was having trouble breathing, but knew it was more than just the poison powder that was affecting him. The battle against the horde of enemies took a great toll on the black greninja, but even now he was still fighting.

"I can't ask you to help me. This is my burden."

"Then let me share some of it." Latias said as a pulse of green and pink washed over the Greninja. While the poisons effect still lingered inside his body, it felt like at least some of his energy returned. "Isn't that what friends are for?"

Itachi chuckled as he was briefly reminded of Naruto in his past life. "I suppose you're right." Itachi said as he straightened his back and activated his Sharingan.

"Finally done talking? Good, because you're coming with me HY01!" Phantom exclaimed, not even phased by the arrival of the new legendary that entered the battle. Itachi glanced towards Latias and the two nodded simultaneously before rushing towards Phantom. "Psybeam Alakazam and Claydol!" Both pokemon fired off a beam of multicolor light towards the two advancing pokemon. Latias dodged by going up into the air while Itachi disappeared into smoke just as the beam hit him. Phantom growled at the now invisible Greninja. "Parasect use Stun Spore!" The mushroom pokemon followed its orders and shot a yellow powder out across battlefield. When nothing turned up, the Phantom looked confused. "What in the-?" His answer came when the black Greninja appeared jumping off the back of the flying Latias. A water kunai formed in his hand, but a black energy was covering the blade. It was an enhanced Night Slash mixture with a Water Kunai.

"Quickly, Reflect!" Phantom ordered to his two pokemon that could. Latias recognized this and fired off a purple wave from her mouth. The Dragon Pulse smashed into the three pokemon, but Alakazam powered through the damage and raised the Reflect just as Itachi was upon them. The Night Slash crashed into the wall of light, and it felt like the wall wasn't giving way any time soon. Claydol was the furthest away from the group, and never one to give up an opportunity, Itachi used the momentum from the attack to push himself over the wall and towards the still dazed Claydol. Said pokemon was beginning to levitate when it felt a piercing pain run through its midsection. Before it even got the chance to recover the Claydol collapsed to the ground.

'That's one down.' Itachi thought as a sudden pain ran though his body, forcing him to fall to one knee. The poison, along with his own fatigue, was catching up to him.

"Use X-Scissor on HY01!" Phantom shouted. "Keep that Latias at bay with Psychic!" The Parasect shot towards Itachi with glowing white claws. Itachi slung his Water Kunai at the bug, but it was easily deflected by the white claws. Not able to dodge the attack, the Uchiha lifted a newly formed kunai in his non-injured hand to block as much as he could, but this did very little as the Parasect plowed straight through the kunai. The attack landed on the Greninja's chest, making the water pokemon stumbled away from the bug. It felt like he had just been cut by two swords across his chest, and that never feels very good. The Parasect looked tired as well. The initial Mist Ball, and subsequent Dragon Pulse, must have done a lot more damage than Itachi originally thought.

Before Phantom could give the bug pokemon another order Itachi released a pitch black shock wave towards the Parasect. Not able to dodge the attack, the Parasect took the Night Daze head on. The damage from the attack was too much to bare, and the mushroom pokemon feinted. Looking over towards the other battle between Latias and Alakazam, it looked like the eon dragon had won, but by barely. Alakazam was on the ground breathing heavily, but not completely unconscious while Latias was breathing heavily. Latias looked to Itachi and smiled, who grinned and nodded back. They had won.

"HY01…" Phantom said in a low voice, making the two pokemon look towards the bearded man. "You're strong… very strong, but because of that strength I'm going to have to use _it_." Raising the sleeve of his jacket until a bracelet with many buttons was revealed, the burly man pressed the only large red button on the bracelet. "I wanted to beat you to prove to myself that I could take down the very thing that I created, but…" Two metal doors at the center of the metal submarine opened to reveal a massive cannon, which pushed itself out of the hole. "It looks like I'm going to have to rely on technology to save the day! Lets subdue that Latias first!" Phantom pressed a few buttons before the cannon turned towards the legendary at a blazing fast speed. "Fire!" Latias's eyes widened in shock as a red beam smashed into her being.

Itachi's eyes widened in shock as he watched his friend become engulfed in bright red light. Once it was done, however, he could see that Latias was detained to a small clear sphere which was coated in a red aura. She tried to push against the sphere only to be shocked back into place.

"Wow! That was much louder than I originally thought it would be, but at least it works." Phantom pressed a few buttons on his bracelet and the cannon turned towards Itachi, who remained on one knee. The poison was still having a field day on his body, and after fighting so hard earlier… "And now there's you HY01. I hope you've enjoyed your little vacation because there's a lot of work to complete."

" _You're so lost… clueless to what you've created._ "

"What did you say?!" Phantom asked, his fists tightening when he heard Itachi speak.

" _When your scientists made me, you tried to play god. To make a pokemon that you felt would best help you in taking down these 'Rockets' you speak of_." Itachi spoke as he closed his eyes from his kneeling position. " _But making something more powerful then themselves has been the downfall of many… like yourself._ "

"What are you talking about?! It's you that-!" Phantom shouted.

Itachi opened his eyes to reveal crimson orbs with three pronged pinwheels in each. An orange aura began to surround the water pokemon until a skeleton took shape within said aura.

"W-What i-is t-that?" Phantom said as he took a step back. This power… felt so unnatural. Like it didn't belong in this world because it felt so… dark. A mixture of anger, sadness, darkness, and most of all… power. "A-Are you a m-monster?!"

" _This is what you created, Phantom. Are you happy?_ " Itachi asked.

"F-Fire!" Phantom exclaimed. The cannon began to charge, but Itachi simply looked back at the weapon with vague interest. The red beam shot towards him and connected with the chest of the Susanoo, but there was no damage done. "W-Why isn't it working?!" The Greninja began slowly walking towards Phantom with those piercing red eyes. Lifting one of his arms, Itachi punched the cannon making it explode in a fiery display. Latias's confines began to very slowly fall away after it was destroyed.

" _You tried to have me killed… even after creating me…_ " Itachi said as Phantom took another step backwards, but tripped onto his backside.

"But I don't now! I only want to work with you!" Phantom shouted in desperation.

" _Work with me? You wish to control me. Use me to your own ends until throwing me away once I'm of no more use to you. No… I know your kind, and what you'll do_." Itachi responded.

"Please! Forgive me! I didn't know what I was getting myself into! I promise I'll repent for my ways!" Phantom shouted as he scrambled backwards, but he was running out of ground until he reached the edge of the water.

" _And what will repenting do for me? You brought me into this world as a monster, and for that you'll have to pay._ " Itachi said before stopping in front of him after stepping over the unconscious Claydol.

"I-Itachi…?" Latias stuttered out on the other side of the arena. In truth, the Uchiha nearly forgot that she was there at all, but Itachi simply stared back at her, time seemingly standing still between the two. "What is that?" She must be shocked to see something so evil in this world, and that it was attached to him in some way.

Itachi looked over at Phantom, who was trembling beneath his gaze. "An unnatural creation that doesn't belong in this world."

"When you killed my agent… you meant to do it, didn't you?" Phantom asked, but Itachi didn't move. "If I would have known that I would have created something so evil then I never would have-."

" _It's far too late for regrets, Phantom. Your lust for power has been your undoing_." Itachi said, his skeletal arm raising up into the air as he spoke.

"Itachi wait!" Latias shouted from within the confines of her dimming sphere. Itachi glanced over at her from the corner of his crimson eyes. Eyes that unnerved the legendary pokemon greatly. "If you kill him then you'll be everything he says you are!"

The Greninja stared at Latias for a good thirty seconds, as if thinking over her words, but then his gaze returned to Phantom who shrunk even more. "Then so be it." Itachi said softly as he raised his arm further up into the air.

"Itachi! No!" Latias exclaimed, but just as he was beginning to bring down his fist upon his 'creator' the unconscious Claydol disappeared and was replaced by the Alakazam that was originally by Latias. The yellow pokemon wrapped his arms around Itachi and held on as tight as he could. Looking down, the Greninja saw the Alakazam pooling as much psychic power as he could muster into his next move.

"I won't let you hurt my trainer you filth!" Alakazam shouted before the two began to glow a similar bright pink color. Itachi's eyes remained widened as the two simply vanished from the arena along with the orange skeleton.

 **XxXxX**

 **AN:** So here it is. The next chapter! What do you all think of the battle? I tried to make Itachi powerful, but not in a way that screamed raw power. Like in the show he uses his wits and tactical prowess to overpower his enemies, but even still he has an immense amount of power.

Also, an update on what's been going on in my life. I finally went back to school to obtain my Master's Degree! So, if there's a lag between chapters it's because I'm juggling school and work.

Anyway I hope you all enjoyed it!


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